Immigration and its affect on the United States
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Transcript of Immigration and its affect on the United States
CORNELLUNIVERSITYLIBRARY
In memory of
Lou CoNKLiN GinsbergClass of 1927
and
Alexander Ely GinsbergClass of 1926
OLIN RESEARCH LIBRARY
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
3 1924 064 104 254
Cornell University
Library
The original of tiiis book is in
tine Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924064104254
i<ji^&^Xi ^. ^iaXC
IMMIGRATIONAND OTHER INTERESTS OF
PRESGOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
nM
COMPILED BY
MRS. PRESGOTT F. HALL
trbe iftnfcherbocfter press
NEW YORK1922
This book
I dedicate to the small group of
Immigration Restriction League men
with whom
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
worked so long, so painstakingly, and
so earnestly, and to whom
he threw the torch
CONTENTSPAGE
viiForeword
Prescott Farnsworth Hall .... xiii
Selection of Immigration i
The Future of American Ideals ... 23
The Building Situation in Brookline . . 35
Brief in Favor of the Numerical Limitation Bill 44
Eugenics, Ethics and Immigration ... 52
Immigration Restriction and World Eugenics 67
Aristocracy and Politics 72
Immigration and the World War ... 78
The Present and Future of Immigration . 85
Birth Control and World Eugenics ... 98
Representation without Taxation . . .105
The Personal Side 119
FOREWORD
By Madison Grant
The opportunity seldom offers of paying a tribute to
a friend who has passed away without receiving from his
fellow countrymen in this life the recognition that washis due, but fortunately for the welfare of the nation
there are still among us
Men who do their work and hold their peace
And have no fear to die.
Such a man was Prescott P. Hall and the writer doubts
whether Prescott HaU himself appreciated the magni-
tude of his work or the debt of obligation he placed uponhis countrymen. Certainly during his hfe he showed nosigns of it nor indicated the slightest impatience at the
scant appreciation by the nation at large for his work.
The League for the Restriction of Immigration wasnot only of Prescott Hall's creation but it was he whokept it alive during the long decades of apathy andneglect from its friends and hostiUty from its enemies.
Thanks to Mr. Hall's work, never did a legislative
measure receive such huge majorities time and again,
when restrictive bills differing in form but of similar
purpose finally came before Congress.
Three times restrictive measures were vetoed byPresidents of profoundly different characters and acting
on profoundly different motives. The first veto was byPresident Cleveland, who was impatient at the so-
viii FOREWORD
called Corliss amendment, which had been improperly
tacked on the bill as a rider. He lived to repent his
action when he saw his hasty veto had opened the flood
gates of the Polish Ghettos into the United States,
draining that great swamp of human misery into the
Eastside of New York to spread throughout the United
States. In the closing years of his life, President Cleve-
land manfully admitted in this veto he had made a
terrible blunder.
During President Roosevelt's administration the
racial elements seeking to force their way into this coun-
try knew that there was no chance of a veto from that
sturdy American and they took refuge in the ingenious
scheme of postponing the issue by a prolonged investiga-
tion under the control of a notorious advocate of free
admission. This committee, after studjdng the subject
here and in Europe, finally recommended a Literacy
Test as the best practical means of restriction. This
Literacy Test was later embodied in a bill and passed
by the House and Senate and sent to the President.
President Taft did not understand the issues involved,
was confused by conflicting advisors and finally vetoed
the bill.
When Mr. Wilson was elected it was realized that
we had in the White House for the first time a man whoopenly sympathized with the races seeking admission.
President Wilson himself did not come from native
American stock and consequently had little pride in
American antecedents or traditions and readily adoptedan international point of view.
The Literacy Test finally passed both Houses by anenormous vote but President Wilson promptly vetoedit. His veto was over-ridden in both Houses and be-came law. This was Mr. Wilson's first real defeat by aheretofore subservient legislature. In the closing days
FOREWORD ix
of his administration another restrictive bill even morepotent than the Literacy bill, was passed by both
Houses and sent to him. Not daring to veto it because
he knew that it would be repassed by more than the
needed two-thirds vote, he took refuge in the device of a
pocket veto, which proved effective and defeated the
bill.
In the next administration a similar bill was passed bythe House of Representatives 276 to 33 and by the
Senate 78 to i and was promptly signed by President
Harding.
During this long fight from Cleveland to Harding the
guiding hand was that of Prescott Hall, who ceaselessly,
untiringly and skilfully labored year after year until he
finally steered the ship safely to port. He lived to see
not only the success of his work but the acceptance
throughout the country of the principles he fought for.
It took the Great World War to arouse America to
the danger of free immigration, whereas Prescott Hall
had foreseen it for thirty years or more. It was he whopointed out that the alien in our midst remained an
alien, sometimes a good alien, more often a bad alien
but always an alien.
All this now seems quite obvious but it is only lately
that America has awakened to the fact that there were
two distinct sections of population within our bound-
aries, one native American and the other hyphenate
-
American, some of the latter in sympathy with the
native Americans and others thinking that they could
improve our institutions and Constitution into con-
formity with the new standards of Eastern Europe.
When the writer looks back on his long years of as-
sociation in this great work with Prescott Hall he real-
izes the latter's unfailing steadfastness in a struggle
which often seemed hopeless. It is hard to understand
X FOREWORD
how he was able to endure the strain, but endure it he
did, and to the day of his death asked for nothing for
himself and everything for his country. In so doing he
gave his countrymen the hardest of aU tasks, namely,
to ask them to save themselves from themselves and it
is for those of us who are left to carry on his work.
Prescott Hall was the first to demonstrate that when
immigrants of a low standard enter an American com-
munity it paralyzes the birth rate of the higher stock
and that each immigrant that lands supplants and re-
places a native American.
With this in mind the question of restriction becomes,
not a question of Labor Supply, nor of Steamship Rates
nor of "Refuge for the Oppressed" but solely the ques-
tion of whether we are willing to have our own stock
replaced by the peoples of southern and Eastern Europe
and of Western Asia. There is no problem of equal im-
portance before this nation. If America goes wrong andallows our native Nordic stock to be replaced by half
Asiatic mongrels the hope of the world is gone.
Thisissue Prescott Hall saw and saw with the vision of
a prophet a full generation ahead of his countrymen.
Unlike most prophets he lived to see his prophesy cometrue and his fellow countrymen awakened to the danger.
Prescott Hall served America well. He asked noreward and I know of no one of our generation to whomAmerica owes so much. There are very few of us, who,when our turn comes, will have the satisfaction that
Prescott Hall had in his last hours in knowing that his
work had been well done.
The lonely sentry of the outposts has been relieved
but he "kept the faith" and more than that can no mando.
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALLHis Life, His Activities, His Writings
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
HIS LIFE, HIS ACTIVITIES, HIS WRITINGS
Prescott F. Hall was born in Boston, Mass., in
1868. After preparation at Noble's School in Boston heentered Harvard, graduating from the College in 1889and from the Law School in 1892. He then entered the
office of Hon. Robert M. Morse and afterwards that of
Ball & Tower. From July, 1894 to August, 1904 hepractised law with offices at 53 and later at 89 State
Street. In 1904 he formed a partnership with EdwardA. Adler imder the name of Adler & Hall with offices at
60 State Street. From 1896 to 1904 he was a member of
the executive committee of the Democratic Club of
Massachusetts, and in 1901 was elected its secretary.
1902-1904 he was the Chairman of its Executive Com-mittee. 1902-1904 he was also a member of the Execu-
tive Committee ofthe New England Democratic League.
In 1904, he became a Republican, and was a member of
the Republican Club of Massachusetts. For some time
he was a member of the executive committee of the
New England Free Trade League and chairman of its
publication committee. He was a member of the Execu-
tive Committee of the Economic Club of Boston from
its foundation, and Vice-President since 1914. In 1896
he was a delegate to the gold Democratic convention at
Indianapolis, and was a member of the National Demo-cratic State Committee. Later he acted as New Eng-
land Secretary for the Executive Committee of the
xiv PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
Monetaxy Convention of which Mr H. H. Hanna was
chainnan, and did considerable work in the way of
bringing influence to bear upon the Congressmen from
New England for the reform of currency. In May, 1894
he became one of the founders of the Immigration Re-
striction League, designed to secure the exclusion of the
most undesirable immigration and the better enforce-
ment of the immigration laws. He was secretary of this
organization from 1896 and prepared much of its
statistical literature. In 1905 he was chairman of
Massachusetts Delegation to the National Immigration
Conference. In 1902-1903 Mr. Hall was president of
the Brookline Education Society, and from 1901 was a
member of the corporation of the Franklin Square
House working girls' hotel. In 1903 he was secretary
of the School Committee of Brookline, Mass. From1913 he was Chairman of the Immigration Committee
of the American Genetic Association. He was also for
several years interested in investigations in psychical
research, and in philosophy. He was a member of the
Union Club of Boston. During most of his life he re-
sided in Brookline. His family was one of the old-time
families which spent the winters in Boston and sum-mers in Brookline. Latterly the Boston house wasgiven up.
He published the following books and articles:
Books
Reference List of Wills construed by the Supreme Courtoj Massachusetts (1896).
Massachusetts Law oj Landlord and Tenant (1899);Supplement (1903); 2d ed. (1908).
Practice Schedule of Massachusetts (1902).
Examination oj Land Titles in Massachusetts (1902).
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL xv
Massachusetts Business Corporations (1903); 2d ed.
(1908); 3d ed. (1917).
Immigration and its Effects on the United States (1906)
;
2d ed. (1908).
Articles
"Voluntary Assignments and Insolvency in Massa-chusetts," 8 Harvard Law Review, 265 (1894).
"The Federal Contract Labor Law," 11 Harvard LawReview, 525, (1898).
"Proximate Cause," 15 Harvard Law Review, 541
(1902).
"Italian Immigration," 163 North American Review,
252 (1896).
"Immigration and the Educational Test," 163 North
American Review, 393 (1897).
"Present Status of Immigration Restriction," 18
Gunton's Magazine, 305 (1900).
"New Problems of Immigration," 30 Forum, 555(1901).
"Selection of Immigration," 24 Annals American
Academy of Political & Social Science, 167 (July, 1904).
"Standardizing of Psychical Research Records,"
Annals of Psychical Science (1908).
"Eugenics, Ethics, & Immigration," Publication,
Immigration Restriction League, No. 51 (Dec, 1908).
"Article of Immigration," Cyclopedia of Social Sci-
ence (1908).
"Fire Test Experiments," Journal American Society
for Psychical Research (1910).
"Account of Sittings with Mrs. Keeler. Journal of
American Society for Psychical Research (1911).
"Future of American Ideals," North American Review
Qan., 1912).
XVI PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
"Recent History of Immigration and Immigration
Restriction," 21 Journal of Political Economy, 735-51
(Oct., 1913).
Review of "Immigration and Labor," by Isaac A.
Hourwich in American Economic Review (191 3).
Article on "Immigration" for Brookline Press (1913)-
"Experiments with Mrs. Caton" (Proceedings Amer-
ican Society for Psychical Research, March, 1914).
Article on "Immigration" for Cyclopedia of Social
Reform (1915).
Review of Fairchild's "Greek Immigration" in
American Economic Review (1915).
"Experiments in Astral Projection," 12 Journal
American Society for Psychical Research (Jan., 191 8).
Review of Jenks & Lauck "The Immigration Pro-
blem," 4th ed., American Economic Review.
"Immigration Restriction and World Eugenics," 10
Journal of Heredity (reprinted as Publication, Immigra-
tion Restriction League No. 71.) (1919.)
"The Harrison Case," 13 Proceedings American So-
ciety for Psychical Research (1920).
Review of Samuel P. Orth's "Our Foreigners" for
American Historical Review (1920).
Review of 10 books for American Society for Psychical
Research (1920).'
' Immigration and the World War, '
' gs Annals Amer-ican Academy of Political and Social Science (1921).Review of 5 books for American Society for Psychical
Research (192 1).
Mr. Hall was a member of the following clubs andsocieties
:
Union Club of Boston.
Twentieth Century Club.
Massachusetts Reform Club.
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL xvii
Republican Club of Massachusetts.
Immigration Restriction League.
American Academy Political and Social Science.
Brookline Education Society.
First Parish Club of Brookline.
Economic Club of Boston.
Brookline Friendly Society.
Civic Federation of New England.
New England Education League.
Bostonian Society.
Trustee Franklin Square House.
The notices and letters, and extracts from letters,
which follow, will show further both the very wide
range of Mr. Hall's interests and activities and someof the results which they produced. No letter refers to
a service which he rendered the Town of Brookline byhis work for the law which forbids the erection of
wooden apartment houses within the limits of the town
;
but the address itself which he delivered against the so-
called wooden "three-decker" will testify to his zeal andactivity in that direction. Though Mr. Hall, so far as is
known, wrote no article on music, that was none the
less one of his very greatest interests throughout life.
He was a finished pianist, and often when he was in the
mood would devote an entire evening to piano-playing.
His interest was deep, too, in the other fine arts. His
taste may not have been always orthodox (he was too
independent and original a thinker for that); but in
general it was keenly appreciative of what was best in
sculpture, architecture, painting and literature.
CONCERNING PARK STREET CHURCH
In the early part of 1900, the Park Street Church and
Congregation, of Boston, had decided that owing to the
XVlll PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
depleted numbers in the Congregation and the appar-
ent hopelessness of the situation, it would be best to
move Park Street Church to some other location, and
action was taken which would have resulted in a demoli-
tion of the present edifice. Mr. Hall, with his loyalty to
Boston, her institutions, and her best architectural
examples, threw his whole energy into an effort to pre-
vent what he thought and felt to be a most unfortunate
move. He was successful in securing a temporary in-
junction, until a more definite action could be taken,
with the result that the Church was kept at its present
location.
Again, in 1906, when Dr. Conrad assumed the Pastor-
ate of Park Street Church, he called on Mr. Hall for his
assistance in securing funds for the rehabilitation of the
Church. Mr. Prescott F. Hall, Mr. Joseph Lee and
Mr. Edward R. Warren co-operated with Dr. Conrad in
securing ten thousand dollars for the complete renova-
tion of the Chiu-ch. Mr. Hall was intensely active in
this movement and to him great credit is due for what
was then accomplished. His wisdom has been vindi-
cated in that the Church congregations for the past
fifteen years have guaranteed the future of the Churchfor a long time to come. Dr. Conrad has repeatedly
expressed his high esteem and great appreciation of Mr.Hall and the assistance he rendered.
FROM A LETTER OF A BROOKLINE PHYSICIAN
No one could have known Prescott Famsworth Hallfrom his boyhood, through his years at college, and thenon through his professional life, without being impressedby the fact that in him was merged the analytical mindin a supersensitive body.
The why and wherefore of things always interested
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL xix
him and the solution of difficult problems was his great-
est delight. He might justly be called a student in all
fields. Especially is this true in the field of medicine.
In his college days he seriously considered entering the
medical profession ; and always he read the best medical
journals and knew all the present-day theories concern-
ing diseases, medicines and germs.
It can be truly said of him that the mind ruled the
body and the latter was unequal to the strain.
FROM ANOTHER DOCTOR FRIEND
I have never known a layman and, indeed, I have
never known a medical man who had such singular
wealth of knowledge of the domain of Medicine in its
broad sense.
He was conversant with the status of Medicine as it
was presented in the current literature to a phenomenal
degree. He was abreast of the very latest progress in
Biology. Of human Psychology he conversed with a
breadth of understanding and thorough grasp of his
subject that used to make me gasp for breath. Heseemed able to instantly grasp the thought of the writers
and investigators of the day, almost before they had
uttered it, and then to seize their standard of results and
carry it on triumphantly ahead of the very originator!
Psychology, as applied to Medicine, had a great lure
for him and he brought to its discussion a mind whose
acumen was extraordinary. Like all men who are
possessed of great lucidity of thought, and a memory of
marvelous retentiveness, he handled the vast knowledge
gleaned as a master-workman would his tools and it was
a joy as well as a marvel to me to get glimpses into the
innumerable chambers of his knowledge which he
seemed to enter with the utmost security and familiarity.
XX PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
He had the investigating and analytical mind to an
exceptional degree. All things were of interest and to
them all he seemed to give a tolerant ear. He was es-
sentially a listener.
FROM A SCIENTIFIC FRIEND
I count my meeting Mr. Hall one of the most pleasant
experiences of my life. Perhaps that feeling arose from
the fact of his being such an ardent student, vmafraid
to delve into any science that would add to his already
great store of knowledge.
It was a delight to discuss the many problems of myscientific researches with him. In all cases, howeverdifferent these problems were, his mind grasped notonly the details, but it would add many facts concern-ing them that always surprised me, indicating an ex-
tremely unusual knowledge obtained only through great
application.
The great problem that brought us together wasnearly always . . . that much misunderstood andunjustly ridiculed one known as the fourth dimension.His ability to grasp this problem was an amazing thingto me, and more than in any other way indicated a veryunusual mentality.
FROM DR. WALTER FRANKLIN PRINCE,
Head of the American Society for Psychical Research
Mr. Hall's participation in psychical research wasonly incidental to his more engrossing occupations, andyet it was keen and did good service. He entered fullyinto its spirit, which may be thus expressed: all unde-termined phenomena are worthy of investigation, andinvestigation consists in dogged study of facts, and infollowing the trail of facts, indifferent to its destination
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL xxi
Probably his interest in this subject was of longer
standing than I am aware, but I find it manifested in the
Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
in 1908, wherein he reported some incidents obtained byhim, and also an investigation made by him of a singu-
lar case of Fire Tests, a physical phenomenon. Thelatter is a very model for a report of this character. It
covers all the important particulars desirable to bring
out with a thoroughness which would do credit to a
professional scientist, in clear, definite and precise
language, and in the fewest possible words.
In April, 191 1 the Journal printed his "Some Ac-
count of Sittings with Mrs. M. E. Keeler." In this he
says: "The author is not a spiritualist, and is not thus
far convinced of the genuineness of any of the commun-ications"—^meaning those received through this med-
ium. I do not know that he ever was thoroughly
convinced that any communications come from spirits,
though it is certain that he was impressed by muchof the evidence, and fairly certain that he was in sym-
pathy with Hamlet's oft-quoted aphorism. At any
rate, he was ready to make any investigations for which
he had time, or to conduct any personal experiments,
which offered a chance for furthering knowledge of the
various subjects embraced in psychical research. Hetried out the directions of the medium just named, to
see if he could develop'
' astral projection.'
' The results,
as well as the statements of Mrs. Keeler which he
thought worthy to be compared with statements by
other psychics, he further reported in the Journal of
November, 1912, November, 1916, and January, 1918.
He insists, here and elsewhere, on the importance of
comparative study of alleged communications, teach-
ings, etc., in order to observe what I am accustomed to
call the "spectrum" lines running through them, or the
xxii PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
lack of these, as the case may be. He was willing to
experiment in his own person as to the possibility of the
development of certain peculiar powers of the Yoga
description, without any antecedent convictions in their
practicability. He did not regard that the promises held
out to him were more than imperfectly realized. Never-
theless he attained to some singular psychical, or per-
haps we had better term them psychological, results,
which he had the courage, which is curiously rare, to
publish for what they might be worth.
In the Proceedings of the same Society for 19 14 maybe found the Burr experiments with Mrs. Caton, a
report of some one hundred and fifty pages, edited by
Mr. HaU. It is cautious, critical, judicial. Again he
adverts to the fact that the value of carefully made and
recorded experiments is likely to increase as the experi-
ments accumulate in number, from the light that they
will throw on one another. His orderly mental habit
is manifested strongly in his painstaking handling of the
material in this report. They are classified according
to their nature, and each division is prefaced by a lucid
statement which is not intended to save the reader fromthe task of thinking for himself, but which removes fromthe path of clear thinking those obstacles which are
often allowed to remain by editors who have less mas-tery of analysis and synthesis.
In the Proceedings of 1919 he edited the lengthyHarrison case of purported communications of eviden-tial quality, with his usual care and clarity, and con-cludes with what is a laborious and critical task, astatistical summary of the material.
During the last year it was my good fortune to secureMr. HaU's help in writing book reviews, and these,some of which are yet to appear, are admirable in theirlucidity, critical acumen and erudition. Probably the
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL xxiii
last literary work he did, an invalid but with unclouded
intellect, was the preparation of reviews of the books I
sent him.
His correspondence, both with Dr. Hyslop and my-self, equally displays the independence and versatility
of his mind. One of his letters is accompanied by a sug-
gested standardized report blank for reporting cases of
physical phenomena which is the best of its kind which
I have seen. There can be little doubt that, had Pres-
cott F. Hall given his attention predominantly to
psychical research, he would have achieved a notable
career in that field.
REV. GEORGE WINSLOW PLUMMER
Head of the Rosicrucian Society
It was my good fortune to be intimately acquainted
with Prescott Hall, although I met him personally at
his home in Brookline but once. I use the term "in-
timately" advisedly, for two men will often express
themselves and their inner natures and interests more
completely in an intimate correspondence, than byactual contact.
My acquaintance with Prescott Hall may be said to
date from early March in 191 8 and continued to his
transition in 192 1 . It is one of the rare associations the
writer has been permitted to enjoy in this entire life
expression, for the continuous contact with his keen,
analytical mind was a source of constant practical bene-
fit and an incentive to progress.
What was Hall's greatest interest in Ufe? Whoknows? Was he himself quite sure? His was the type
of mentalism that found every phase of human interest
matter for his analysis. As a critic he was unusually
keen, analytical and correct. His criticisms and re-
xxiv PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
views were always to the point, often cutting, sometimes
sardonic, never unjust or captious.
In the domain of Economics, Eugenics, Immigration
and other departments of vital statistics he was a re-
cognized authority. But it was as a student of mystic-
ism and occult science that the writer knew him best,
being fields of thought in which we were mutually
interested and in which we had much in common.In his researches in this realm of knowledge, Prescott
Hall made many adventures. It is safe to say that there
was not a single avenue of investigation left unexplored
by him. He was not of the credulous type of mind,—far
from it. He subjected every phase of psychic and men-tal phenomena from Yoga practice to Spiritualism to
the most caustic and critical examination and his powersof discrimination were nowhere so well recognized as in
this uncharted ocean of the unknown forces of Natureand Man. His association with Professor Hyslop andother eminently creditable investigators in Psychical
Research was undoubtedly of greater value to them thanto himself, for Hall assumed nothing, took nothing for
granted, but gave credence only to what he couldprove, and even then reserved a large percentage of
judgment, feeling that later investigations would clarify
many points which were in his life time and are still,
those of controversy and not accepted facts.
Prescott Hall was a wonderful personaHty, a manhighly and intensely individuaUzed, yet free from thenoxious egoism that has embarrassed so many other ofthe world's intellectual workers and the circumstanceof the single personal contact the writer had with himwill ever be remembered. It was at the conclusion of along motor trip back from the Shrine of Ste. Anne deBeaupre at Quebec, and we were engrossed in a lengthydiscussion of the alleged miraculous healing that is
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL xxv
claimed for the Shrine. His conceptual explanation of
the occurrences at Beaupre based entirely upon accepted
psychological lawswas vigorous and logical and althoughthe writer did not at the time wholly coincide with his
opinion, later events have made him more inclined to doso.
I am glad to have known Prescott Hall. It was a
privilege. His suggestions and opinions have been
invaluable to me in my own work and his passing leaves
one almost with the feeling as though a vacuum hadbeen created in the social fabric, the feeling that the
space he occupied even corporeally, can never be filled
by another.
FROM A LETTER OF A CO-WORKER OF THE IMMIGRATION
RESTRICTION LEAGUE
Prescott and I were schoolmates, College classmates,
and ever since graduating saw each other frequently.
For over twenty-five years we worked together, in-
timately, whole-heartedly, and with never the slightest
disagreement on immigration. Back in school-days
I came to know his extraordinarily logical, clear, effec-
tive mind, and in all the later years I never ceased to
marvel at his wonderful grasp of essentials and at his
ability to express his views, always sound and logical,
either verbally or in print. I have never known just
such an intellect as his. I do not remember any occa-
sion whenwe failed to work in perfect harmony together.
He was, from the very first, the backbone, the main-
spring, the absolutely reliable one man of our League.
We always knew that he had every bit of information weneeded; that his advice was always right; that he was
always ready to do every job that would help our cause.
To him, this country owes far more than to anyone else
XXVI PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
every improvement in our immigration laws. He did
the work of ten men, and did it patiently, uncomplain-
ingly, effectively. I know that restrictionists all over
the United States who know his name and recognize
what he did, will feel, as I do, that the guiding spirit
is gone.
Take comfort in the thought that Prescott did such
splendid, important and patriotic work. He has well
earned his rest.
FROM THE SIXTH ANNUAL BULLETIN
Class of 1889 of Harvard College, 1920-192
1
Prescott Farnsworth Hall died at Brookline,
Mass., May 28, 192 1 . He was born September 27, 1868,
at Boston, Mass., the son of Samuel and Mary Elizabeth
(Farnsworth) Hall. He prepared for College at G. W.
Noble's School in Boston. In College, he attained
high rank as a scholar, and was a member of the
Hasty Pudding, O. K. Signet, Finance Club, Philo-
sophical Club, Deutscher Verein, and St. Paul's Society.
.... In 1894 he was one of the founders ... of
the Immigration Restriction League, of which he was its
Secretary for many years. His thorough research, his
book and numerous articles on Immigration made him
a leading authority on the subject ; to his persistent work
is due much of the improvement in the legislation of the
United States on immigration; and he may be justly
regarded as the chief factor in the enactment of the
educational test for immigrants. He was Chairman of
the Committee on Immigration of the Eugenics Section
of the American Genetic Association for many years.
He also took a great interest in psychical research andoccult matters, as to which he wrote many articles. Hetook an active part in politics at one time, being Secre-
PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL xxvii
tary in 190 1 and Chairman of the Executive Committeeof the Democratic Club of Massachusetts from 1902 to
1904; and he served on the Brookline Town Committeein 1903. He was a member of the Bostonian Society,
the Rosicrucian Society, the American Society for
Psychical Research; he was Vice-President of the Eco-nomic Club of Boston in 1914; President of the Brook-line Education Society in 1903. His legal writings are
considered as standard authority. . . .
For the past five years he suffered greatly from ill
health and withdrew himself largely from participation
in Class reunions. . . . Hemarriedat Denver, Colo.,
October 17, 1908, Eva Lucyle Irby, of Virginia whosurvives him.
The following fine tribute by Joseph Lee, '83, waspublished in the Boston Herald, June, 192 1
:
"Although Prescott F. Hall was practically unknownto the public, he had when he died probably done moreto affect for the better the future of this country than
almost any man of his generation.
"He saw nearly thirty years ago what others beganto see during the war, that the most important question
for this country was the kind of human material of
which its future citizenship should be composed, andthat its mission was not to be an asylimi and a breeding
grovmd for the defective and the oppressed—the beaten
members of the beaten races—but to be an example of
successful democracy and of the attainment to a high
standard of character and happiness. He saw that it
would benefit a nation very little if it gained a wide
reputation for philanthropy and lost its own soial.
"Mr. Hall, accordingly, initiated the agitation for
restricting immigration that was to occupy the greater
part of his time and all of his heart during the rest of his
life. The final success of the Literacy Test in 191 7marked
xxviii PRESCOTT FARNSWORTH HALL
the close of what must have been, I think, the longest
legislative fight on record. The adoption of the present
more satisfactory percentage bill came just in time for
him to hear of the victory before he died.'
' During all these years Mr. Hall kept track of immi-
gration laws and of their administration and their
results in a most able and painstaking manner, and was
the backbone of the agitation for restriction on the
technical and legal side. Without him the gates would
have still been unguarded and the deterioration of our
human standard would still be at the flood.
"Mr. Hall's work was unknown, unpaid, unrecog-
nized. It was a sheer labor of love, the love of country
and consideration for the future of mankind. But it
achieved success, and that was, after all, the only
recompense that he desired."
THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES ARE SELEC-
TIONS FROM MR. HALL'S PUBLISHED
AND UNPUBLISHED WORK
SELECTION OF IMMIGRATION'
The two factors of race migration and race survival
have had most potent effects upon the world's history.
But, while these factors are conspicuous when we look
backward through the centuries, we often fail to ap-
preciate the importance of their influence in the im-
mediate past and in the present. The immigration
question in this country has never had the attention
paid to it which its importance entitles it, but has been
sometimes the scapegoat of religious and racial preju-
dices, and always in recent years an annual sacrifice
to the gods of transportation.
The causes of such indifference are not far to seek.
In the early days of this country the people were busy
with other matters. Immigration was small, and not
especially objectionable in quality. Later, the doctrines
of the laissezfaire school, and the obviously narrow and
prejudiced theories of the Know Nothing movement,
helped to continue the existing status of free movement.
More recently, a misapprehension of the doctrine of
"survival of the fittest" has led many intelligent citi-
zens to adopt an easy-going optimism, in many re-
spects kindred to the benumbing fatalism of Oriental
peoples. This misapprehension is caused by the fact
that the doctrine of the "survival of the fittest" is
usually stated in a catchy and condensed formula, with
the authority of modern science, and accepted without
'Reprinted from The Annals of the American Academy oj Political
and, Social Science for July, 1904.
2 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
critical understanding. The doctrine is that the fittest
survive; fittest for what? The fittest to survive in the
particular environment in which the organisms are placed.
The only teleological valuation in this formula is the
almost mechanical one of survival in time. Those whosurvive need not be the fittest for any other purpose
whatsoever, except the continuation of life and repro-
duction. Were the citizens of the Netherlands inferior
to the soldiers of Alva, or many of the victims of the
French Revolution to those who slew them ? Were the
Polish patriots inferior to their Russian conquerors, or
are the Finns inferior to those who are now engaged in
taking away their constitutional rights ? Yes, but only
in the matter of survival in time. But if the duration
of human life on this earth is limited, as we are told it is
by the same scientists who lay stress upon the "siu:-
vival of the fittest,'
' the mere success in duration for anyrace seems of no great value in itself, and may it not beworth while to consider other valuations as we go along,
so that the whole world history shall be as valuable as
possible from all points of view?
I have dwelt on this point because, while the value of
artificial selection in breeding animals, in producingseedless fruits and new grains, in fact in nearly everydepartment of life, is now generally recognized; andwhile some advanced persons are talking of regulating
marriage with a view to the elimination of those unfit
for other purposes than mere survival; yet most peoplefail to realize that here in the United States we have aunique opportunity, through our power to regulateimmigration, of exercising artificial selection upon anenormous scale. What warrant have we for supposingthat the Divine Power behind things does not intendhuman reason to be applied to these matters as well ashunger, steam, steel, and the lust for gold?
SELECTION OF IMMIGRATION 3
In such cases as the present an appeal is usually madeto the fathers of the Republic, and to the argument that
they recognized the right of every human being to mi-
grate wherever he chose, and to produce as many chil-
dren as he pleased, and, in general, to pursue happiness
by living the kind of life that suited him. However the
fathers may have been influenced by the French political
theories of their time, they were practical men with
much common sense, and it is by no means certain that
if they were present to-day, the vastly changed condi-
tions would not lead them to hold the views of the pres-
ent article. Washington writing to John Adams in
1794, said:
'
'My opinion with respect to immigration is that ex-
cept of useful mechanics and some particular descrip-
tions of men and professions, there is no need of en-
couragement, while the policy or advantage of its taking
place in a body (I mean the settling of them in a body)may be much questioned ; for by so doing they retain the
language, habits and principles, good or bad, whichthey bring with them."
Can there be any question how Washington would
feel about excluding the thousands of immigrants whohave recently come to create and to occupy the slum
districts of our Northern and Eastern cities?
But even the prophetic vision of Washington could
not possibly have seen the unparalleled change in the
conditions of immigration from his day to ours. From
182 1, when statistics were first kept, to 1900, a total of
19,115,221 immigrants has come to our shores; and the
annual immigration has increased from 9,127 in 1821 to
857,046 in 1903. The modern immigration problem,
however, dates from 1870; and it is necessary to empha-
size this point because much of what is said in recent
4 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
discussion ignores the profound change which has taken
place in the character of immigration since that date.
It may be frankly admitted that this country owes a
large share of its development, its wealth, its power and
its ideals, to the early immigration as well as to the best
part of the later immigration ; but any arguments based
upon the effects of early immigration cannot be applied
to the new comers as self-evident truths, for the data
are by no means the same.
However much social prejudice there may have been
against the Irish and German immigrants of the forties
and fifties, and while even that immigration tended to
diminish the native stock as I shall show later, it still
remains true that prior to 1870 immigration was chiefly
of races kindred in habits, institutions and traditions
to the original colonists. Mr. Lodge said upon this
point in addressing the Senate, March 16, 1896:
"It will be observed that with the exception of theHuguenot French, who formed but a small percentageof the total population, the people of the thirteen col-onies were all of the same original race stocks. TheDutch, the Swedes and the Germans were simplyblended with the English-speaking people, who likethem were descended from the Germanic tribes whomCaesar fought and Tacitus described. During the pres-ent century, down to 1875, there have been three largemigrations to this country in addition to the alwayssteady stream from Great Britain; one came from Ire-land about the middle of the century, and somewhatlater one from Germany, and one from Scandinavia, inwhich is included Sweden, Denmark and Norway. TheIrish, although of a different race stock originally, havebeen closely associated with the EngHsh-speaking peoplefor nearly a thousand years. They speak the samelanguage, and during that long period the two raceshave lived side by side and to some extent have inter-married. The Germans and Scandinavians are again
SELECTION OP IMMIGRATION 5
people of the same race stock as the English who builtup the colonies. During this century then, down to
1875, as in the two which preceded it, there had beenscarcely any immigration to this country except fromkindred or allied races, and no other which was suffi-
ciently numerous to have produced any effect on the na-tional characteristics, or to be taken into account here."
How marked the change in nationality has been since
1869 is shown by the fact that in 1869 less than one
per cent, of the total immigration came from Austria-
Hungary, Italy, Poland and Russia, while in 1902 there
were over seventy per cent. ; on the other hand, in 1869,
nearly three-quarters of the total immigration camefrom the United Kingdom, France, Germany andScandinavia, while in 1902, only one-fifth was from
those countries. Or, to put it in another way: in 1869
the immigrants from Austria-Hungary, Italy, Poland
and Russia were about one one-htmdredth of the num-ber from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and
Scandinavia; in 1880, about one-tenth; in 1894, nearly
equal to it; in 1902 three and one-half times as great.
In 1903 the largest element in immigration was the
South Italian with 196,117 souls, and the next largest
was the Polish, with 82,343.
It does not, therefore, at all follow that because this
country has been able to assimilate large numbers of
kindred races in the past, it can in the future assimilate
vastly larger numbers of races alien in customs, tradi-
tions and ideals. Immigration in 1903 amounted to
over 850,000 persons. In 1923 or 1943 it may be two
million a year, and the mere fact that the two million
may bear no larger proportion to the total population
of that day than the immigration did to the population
in 1870 is no guaranty of our power of assimilating such
a ntmiber of such races, especially when our total popu-
6 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
lation will contain such a large proportion of these very
races which are difficult of assimilation. Within the
last year or two there has been a marked increase in
the number of sailings from Europe, and especially from
the Mediterranean ports. Recently, the White Star
Line has estabUshed a Mediterranean service, the Cu-
nard Line has a guaranty of thirty thousand emigrants
per year from Austria-Hungary, and a new line has
been established between Odessa and New York; also
the steamers which formerly ran between Austria and
Central America now are to run to New York. There
are increased sailings of the North German Lloyd and
Hamburg-American lines, and the size of all new vessels
has enormously increased. All these steamship lines are
in the business for profit, and immigrants, who require
no loading and unloading, are by far the most profitable
cargo. The thousands of agents of these lines all over
Europe, Asia Minor and Northern Africa are bound to
create all the business they can for their respective lines,
and naturally they are concerned only with the selection
of such applicants for tickets as will not certainly be
rejected under the laws of this country.
The influence of these conditions upon the quality of
immigration has been forcibly expressed by General
Francis A. Walker, formerly Superintendent of the
Census, as follows
:
"Fifty, even thirty, years ago, there was a rightful
presumption regarding the average immigrant that hewas among the most enterprising, thrifty, alert, adven-turous and courageous, of the community from whichhe came. It required no small energy, prudence, fore-
thought and pains to conduct the inquiries relating to
his migration, to accumulate the necessary means, andto find his way across the Atlantic. To-day the pre-
sumption is completely reversed. So thoroughly hasthe Continent of Europe been crossed by railways, so
SELECTION OF IMMIGRATION 7
effectively has the business of emigration there beenexploited, so much have the rates of railroad fares andocean passage been reduced, that it is now among theleast thrifty and prosperous members of any Europeancommunity that the emigration agent finds his bestrecruiting ground. . . . Illustrations of the ease andfacility with which this Pipe Line Immigration is nowcarried on might be given in profusion. . . . Hardtimes here may momentarily check the flow; but it will
not be permanently stopped so long as any difference oj
economic level exists between our population and that of
the most degraded commimities abroad."
Speaking of the probable effect of recent immigration
General Walker continues
:
"The entrance into our political, social and industrial
life of such vast masses of peasantry, degraded belowour utmost conceptions, is a matter which no intelligent
patriot can look upon without the gravest apprehensionand alarm. These people have no history behind themwhich is of a natvu-e to give encouragement. They havenone of the inherited instincts and tendencies whichmade it comparatively easy to deal with the immigra-tion of the olden time. They are beaten men frombeaten races; representing the worst failures in the
struggle for existence. Centuries are against them, as
centuries were on the side of those who formerly cameto us."
The main point to remember in regard to recent im-
migration is that much of it is not voluntary in any true
sense of the term. The limits of this article do not per-
mit a detailed statement of the facts supporting this
allegation, but anyone who will read in the report of the
Commissioner-General of Immigration for 1903 the
remarks of Special Inspector Marcus Braun, who has
just been upon a tour of investigation in Europe, will
find abundant evidence. The same thing was brought
8 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
out in the investigations of our Industrial Commission.
The race migration at present going on is not, therefore,
even a'
' natural'
' movement . It is an artificial selection
of many of the worst elements of European and Asiatic
populations by the steamship companies.
It is significant that no general immigration legisla-
tion was found necessary until some years after the
newer kind of immigration had begun to come hither.
The first general immigration act was passed in 1882 and
imposed a head tax of fifty cents ; the contract labor acts
were passed to prevent the immigration of the cheapest
mining labor in 1885 and 1887; the general law was
revised in 1891 ; an administrative act was passed in
1893 ; the head tax was raised to one dollar in 1895 ; and
a general codifjdng act was passed in 1903, raising the
head tax to two dollars. These Acts were passed in
pursuance of the principle that the nation, as an attri-
bute of its sovereignty or under the commerce clause of
the Constitution, has a right to exclude or to expel from
its borders any aliens whom it deems to be dangerous to
the public welfare. This principle has been sustained
by several decisions of the Supreme Court of the United
States, the most recent one being in the case of Turner,
the Anarchist.
So far from it being an established principle of our
country to admit any and all persons desiring to come,
it was early recognized that Congress has complete
control over this matter, and Congress has established
numerous classes of persons to be excluded, (i) AnAct of 1862 prohibited the importation of Oriental
"cooHe" labor, and the later "Chinese Exclusion Acts"have rigorously enforced this principle. The Act of
1875 added (2) convicts, except those guilty of political
offenses, and (3) women imported for immoral purposes.
The Act of 1882 added (4) lunatics, (5) idiots, (6) persons
SELECTION OF IMMIGRATION 9
unable to care for themselves without becoming public
charges. The Act of 1887 added (7) contract laborers.
The Act of 189 1 added (8) paupers, (9) persons suffering
from loathsome or dangerous contagious diseases, (10)
polygamists, (11) "assisted" immigrants, i. e., those
whose passage has been paid for by others, unless theyshow affirmatively that they are otherwise admissible.
The Act of 1903 added (12) epileptics, (13) persons whohave been insane within five years previous, (14) pro-
fessional beggars, (15) anarchists, or persons who be-
lieve in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence
of the Government of the United States or of all govern-
ment or of aU forms of law, or the assassination of public
ofl&cials, (16) persons attempting to bring in women for
purposes of prostitution, (17) persons deported within
a year previous as being contract laborers.
It is apparent that, however formidable the foregoing
list of excluded persons looks upon paper, it practically
is by no means an adequate protection to the country.
Out of the 857,046 immigrants arriving in 1903, only
9,316, or a trifle over one per cent., were debarred or
returned within one year after landing. In previous
years the percentage has usually been less than this.
The theory of the law is that the transportation com-
panies will not sell tickets to persons liable to be ex-
cluded, and this undoubtedly keeps some undesirables
away. But, after all, the present system of excluded
classes utterly fails to attack the main problem of the
proper selection of immigrants. In the Report of the
Commissioner-General for 1903, the Commissioner at
New York speaks of this matter as follows
:
"I believe that at least two hundred thousand (andprobably more) aliens came here, who, although theymay be able to earn a living, yet are not wanted, will beof no benefit to the country, and will on the contrary be
10 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
a detriment, because their presence will tend to lower
our standards; and if these two hundred thousand per-
sons could have been induced to stay at home, nobody,
not even those clamoring for more labor, would have
missed them. Their coming has been of benefit chiefly,
if not only, to the transportation companies which
brought them here."
It is probable that most citizens would agree on a
definition of "undesirable" immigration. At any rate,
for the purposes of this paper, I shall call that immigra-
tion undesirable which is ignorant of a trade; which is
lacking in resources; which has criminal tendencies;
which is averse to country life and tends to congregate
in the slums of large cities; which has a low standard of
living and lacks ambition to seek a better; which fails
to assimilate within a reasonable time, and which has no
permanent interests in this country.
Now how far does our recent immigration fulfil this
definition? It is to be remembered that in 1903 about
three-quarters of it came from Southern and Eastern
Europe and Asia; 65 per cent, of it was destined for the
four States of Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and
Pennsylvania. Over 80 per cent, was totally unskilled
or had no occupation at all. On the average, each im-
migrant had only $19 with him, and many only one or
two dollars. Those from Southern and Eastern Europe
admitted an illiteracy of 39.7 per cent., as against 3.9
per cent, for those from Northern and Western Europe.
The true illiteracy was probably much higher for the
former class, as they are known to be coached on this
subject in view of the agitation for an illiteracy test,
and whenever the writer has made practical examina-
tions of immigrants he has found considerable misrepre-
sentation in this regard. Taking up first the matter of
distribution, we see a marked difference between the
SELECTION OF IMMIGRATION ii
immigration prior to 1870, which built up the North-
west, and the races which now come to us. The census
of 1900 shows that in the 160 principal cities of the
country there were only ^/^ to Vj of the Scandinavians,
less than ]4 of the British, and about yi of the Germans,
as compared with over Yj of the Irish, Italians and Poles
and ^ of the Russian Jews. Of the Poles in Illinois,
91.3 per cent, were in Chicago; in New York State,
75.5 per cent, were in New York City and Buffalo; in
Michigan and Wisconsin, over ^ were in Detroit and
Milwaukee. Of the Italians in Illinois, 72 per cent,
were in Chicago ; of those in New York State, 79.8 per
cent, were in New York City. Of the Russian Jews in
the United States, 71.8 per cent, were in six States, as
compared with 54 per cent, in 1890. Of the Russian
Jews in Illinois, 84.2 per cent, were in Chicago; of those
in New York State, 93.7 per cent, were in New YorkCity; of those in Pennsylvania, 56.8 per cent, were in
Philadelphia. Only 3.9 per cent, of the Poles, 4.4 per
cent, of the Hungarians and 8.7 per cent, of the Russian
Jews live in the Southern or Western States.
The Seventh Special Report of the United States
Commissioner of Labor shows that Southeastern Europe
has furnished three times as many inhabitants as North-
western Europe to the slums of Baltimore, 19 times
as many to the slums of New York, 20 times as many to
the slums of Chicago, and 71 times as many to the slums
of Philadelphia. In these same slums the illiteracy of
Northwestern Europe was 25.5 per cent., that of South-
eastern Europe 54.5 per cent, or more than double, while
the illiteracy of the native American element in the
slums was only 7.4 per cent.
The concentration of these large bodies of ignorant
foreigners in the slums of our Eastern cities is a serious
matter. Forming racial settlements, they do not tend
12 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
to assimilate, but, as Washington predicted, keep to
their native customs and standards of living. They
cannot even read the newspapers, board of health
notices and trade journals printed in their own language,
and as a necessary consequence are slow to become ac-
quainted with any other standards except those of their
immediate neighbors. The census of 1890 seems to showthat, taking an equal number of the foreign element and
of the native element, the foreigners furnish lyi times
as many criminals, 2*73 times as many insane, and 3times as many paupers as the natives. It is not strange
that there should be many foreign-bom paupers whenwe consider that the South Italians bring on the aver-
age $8.84, the Hebrews, $8.67 and the Poles, $9.94 each,
as compared with $41.51 brought by the Scotch, $38.90brought by the English and $28.78 brought by the
Germans. The statistics as to the nationality andparentage of dependents and delinquents in the various
States are as yet too incomplete for very accurate con-
clusions, but it is evident that the present laws do notexclude the unfit. In the final report of the Industrial
Commission, p. 967, it is stated that "the second gen-eration, i.e., the native children of foreign parents,
furnish the largest proportion of commitments andprisoners of all race elements in the population." Ac-cording to a recent investigation in New York Statethere were 13,143 persons of foreign birth in the publicinstitutions of that State. Recent testimony of theNew York State Limacy Commission was to the effect
that the State of New York is paying $10,000,000 an-nually for the support of the alien-bom insane alone.Two of the largest hospitals in New York City have beenobliged to suspend part of their activities on account ofthe burden of the foreign patients. The point of this is
that things were not thus until the change of national-
SELECTION OF IMMIGRATION 13
ity took place. One of the managers of the House of
Refuge in New York City writes:
"I notice the large number of children that are placedin charitable institutions for no crime or misdemeanor,but to relieve their parents of their support. They areprincipally from Southern and Eastern Europe."
In 1902 the number of arrests of Greeks in New YorkCity exceeded the entire Greek population of the city
for the year 1900 ; Vg of the foreign whites in the UnitedStates over ten years of age cannot speak English, andof these 89 per cent, are over 20 years of age; that is to
say, they are not likely to receive any schooling. Con-sidering New York State alone, these persons who can-
not speak English are chiefly Italians, Russian Jews andAustro-Hungarians.
In addition to perpetuating a low standard of living
and a willingness to tmderbid native labor, this ignor-
ance has a bad side politically. On the one hand, it
means an indifference to civic matters, and a lack of
knowledge of and interest in our institutions ; and, on the
other hand, it means bad material out of which to makecitizens. The average percentage of British, Germanicand Scandinavian aliens among the males of voting age
in 1900 was 1 1.5; of the Slav, Latin and Asiatic aliens,
45.3. Of these aliens, Vio had been in this country long
enough to be naturalized. This in the face of the great
inducements to naturalization held out by political
party leaders, and the fact that many municipalities
insist on the employment of citizens only upon public
works. It has recently been estimated that there are
fifty thousand fraudulent naturalization papers held in
New York City alone. However this may be, it is
evident that many of our present immigrants are not
the stuff of which patriots are made. This is a highly
14 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
dangerous condition in a country where we are once for
all committed to the principle of government by force of
numbers.
Some persons who are in favor of indiscriminate im-
migration admit, as indeed they must, the force of facts
like those recited above; but they say the whole matter
is a question of distribution. Let us get these people
out of the cities, they say; let us put them upon the
unsettled regions of Texas or Oklahoma, and the results
will be very different. In regard to this plan several
things may be said, (i) The immigrants will not go
there of their own accord, as appears from what has been
already said. Most of them cannot afford to go inland
if they would. (2) The experience of the Hebrew Chari-
ties on a small scale shows that even where colonization
is successful—and in many cases it has been an utter
failure—it is altogether too expensive to be applied on
a large scale. (3) If it could be applied to those already
in the city slums, the slums would fill up faster than
they could be bailed out, unless we adopt some further
regulation of immigration as to newcomers. (4) It is,
therefore, proposed to bar aliens not destined to an in-
terior locality. But it would require a policeman for
each immigrant to see that he did not sell his ticket onlanding, and that he actually went to his destination.
(5) Even if our recent immigrants were able and willing
to go to theWest and South, these States do not want them.
In 1896 every one of the associations formed to encour-
age immigration into the Northwest petitioned Congress
for an illiteracy test for immigrants and stated that
they did not want Southeastern European immigrants.
A Government Commission in 1896 took steps to ascer-
tain the wishes of the States in this matter by communi-cating with their governors, labor commissioners andother officials. Of 52 replies received all expressed a
SELECTION OP IMMIGRATION 15
preference for native bom or Northwestern Europeans,
chiefly for British, Germans and Scandinavians. There
were only two requests for Southeastern Europeans and
these were for Italian farmers with money. Within a
month the Immigration Restriction League has repeated
the experiment of the Government Commission, and
the thirty replies received to date are most instructive.
Of the States desiring immigrants practically all wish
native bom, or immigrants from Northern Europe,
Britain, Germany and Scandinavia. All are opposed to
having the sltmis of Eastern cities dumped upon them.
In regard to immigrants not desired, three States desire
no immigrants at all; two, no foreign bom. Five desire
no Southern and Eastern Europeans. Eight wish no
illiterates. Of the rest, immigrants settling in cities,
the Latin races, persons who cannot speak English,
Asiatics, and in general any but the best classes of im-
migrants, are objected to.
Before considering remedies for the existing state of
things, I wish to return to what was said at the outset
and to emphasize the most important reason of all for
further selection in admitting immigrants. The late
Bishop Brooks, who was a large-hearted man if there
ever was one, in a public address used these words:
"If the world, in the great march of centuries, is
going to be richer for the development of a certain na-
tional character, built up by a larger type of manhoodhere, then for the world's sake, for the sake of every na-
tion that would pour in upon us that which would dis-
turb that development, we have a right to stand guard
over it. . . . We have a right to stand guard over
the conditions of that experiment, letting nothing in-
terfere with it, drawing into it the richness which is
to come by the entrance of many men from_ma,ny
nations, and they in sympathy with our Constitution
and laws."
i6 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
Now in order to develop our institutions in the spirit
of those who built them up we must guard our power of
assimilation, and not only refuse to take in immigrants
whom we cannot assimilate, and refuse to take any im-
migrants in faster than we can assimilate them, but we
must see to it that we ourselves and those whom we
assimilate shall continue to exist and to hand on the
torch of civilization to worthy successors. All statistical
discussions of immigration and its effects are defective
in two respects. First, tmder our census system the
children of immigrants are classed as native Americans.
Second, no account is taken of the children which are
never allowed to be bom. In other words, the question
is not really between us and the immigrants now coming,
but between their children and the children of future
immigrants and our children. To put the matter con-
cretely, the greatest danger of unselected immigration
is its effect upon the native birth rate.
Take a teacher in New York City with a high stand-
ard for himself and his children. He has but two be-
cause he cannot give them what he wants to give them in
education and the decencies of life. Compare him with
a Southern Italian or a Syrian living not a mile awaywho has ten children, and who brings them up regardless
of any high standard of living, any education they get
being paid for by other people. Once on a time half of
these would have died. Now, with our improved public
sanitation, they live. Perhaps, as stated above, someof these children are supported at the public expense
until they are able to go into a sweatshop. There can
be no doubt which is the higher type of citizen or of
family, yet the higher barely tends to perpetuate itself
and the lower "survives" to five times the extent of the
higher.
Of course the falling of a birth rate may be due to
SELECTION OF IMMIGRATION 17
many causes which I have not time here to discuss. Butin general it is caused by the desire for the "concentra-
tion of advantages," and one of the principal provoca-
tives of this desire is the effects of immigration. Con-sider for a moment the typical town of a hundred years
ago with its relatively homogeneous society. The youngmen drive the omnibus and tend the store. Everybodyknows them, and, while not ranking with the judge, or
the parson, or the doctor, they are in general as good as
anybody. Now suppose a small factory is started andsome of the village girls are employed there. For a time
no great change occurs. Then a number of unskilled
immigrants settle in the town. Being unskilled they
naturally take up the easiest kind of manual labor. Atfirst they are regarded as curiosities. More come,
enough to form a class. They naturally group more or
less by themselves. They do not enter into the existing
clubs and amusements of the town. After a time they
constitute the larger part of the help in the factory.
Being poor, they live in the cheapest location and in the
most frugal style. The natives gradually withdraw
from social contact with them, the girls dislike to work
with them in the factory, the boys do not want to be
with them in the fields and the mills. After such a caste
system invades a town the natives are tmwilling to
marry, or, if they do marry, to have children, unless
they can be sure of enough means to secure employment
for their children in an occupation where they will not
be classed with the immigrants. The girls no longer go
out to service, but go into bookkeeping, or certain
kinds of stores ; and the boys are sent to the High School
or, if possible, to coUege. At any rate, the children of
the natives seek only the so-called better grades of em-
ployment. After a time there is an invasion of French
Canadians or Italians into the town, and the same proc-
1 8 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
ess tends to operate in the case of the earlier immi-
grants.
That this is no flight of the imagination but an actual
description of what happens is testified by many stu-
dents of the question. The writer has personally in-
quired as to the cause of the small families in various
parts of our Eastern States and has been repeatedly
told by parents that this social reason was the controll-
ing one in their own families. Dr. Roberts and Dr.
Warne report the siame thing in the mining regions of
Pennsylvania. General Walker says
:
"The great fact protrudes through all the subsequenthistory of our population that the more rapidly for-
eigners came into the United States, the smaller was therate of increase, not only among the native populationof the country as a whole, including the foreigners.
... If the foregoing views are true, or contain aconsiderable degree of truth, foreign immigration into
this country has, from the time it assumed large propor-tions, amounted not to a reenforcement of our popula-tion, but to a replacement of native by foreign stock."
The Industrial Commission also says in its report, p.
277:
" It is a hasty assumption which holds that immigra-tion during the nineteenth century has increased thetotal population."
R. R. Kuczynski has shown that in Massachusettsthe foreign-born mother has two-thirds more children
than the native-born mother, and three-fifths morechildren living.
Now in many discussions of this question it is said
that the natives are displaced by the foreigners, but are
crowded up" into higher occupations. I do not believe
SELECTION OP IMMIGRATION 19
that this can be shown to be true, even of the natives in
existence at the time the process operates. Some are
undoubtedly crowded up, some are crowded out and goelsewhere, many are crowded down and become public
charges or tramps. But the main point is that the na-
tive children are murdered by never being allowed to
come into existence, as surely as if put to death in someolder invasion of the Huns and Vandals.
In this question of immigration we are dealing with
tremendous social forces operating on a gigantic scale.
How careful should we be, then, to turn these forces in
the right direction so far as we may guide them. It is
no doubt true that hybridization has often produced
better stocks than those previously existing; and someinfusion of Mediterranean and Alpine blood into the
Baltic immigration of the last century may perhaps be a
good thing. But if we were trying such an experiment
on plants or animals would we not exercise the greatest
care to get the best of each stock before mixing them?And has it not been said that human beings are of morevalue than many sparrows ? The success of the Amer-ican Republic is of more value to the world than the
good of a few thousand immigrants, whose places are
filled up at home almost before they reach this side of
the Atlantic. It is by no means certain that economic
reforms would not already have taken place in Europewhich have been delayed because those countries have
had the safety valve of emigration to the United States,
and have thus been able to keep up the frightful pres-
sure of militant taxation in their own domains.
If we are to apply some further method of selection to
immigrants, what shall it be? The plan of consular in-
spection in Europe, once popular, has been declared
impracticable by every careful student of the subject.
A high headtax might accomplish something, but it is
20 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
not a discriminating test, and hits the worthy perhaps
harder than the unworthy.
Two plans have been suggested. One, more in the
nature of a palliative than a cure, is to admit immigrants
on a five-year probation, and to provide that if within
five years after landing an immigrant becomes such a
person as to be within the classes now excluded by law,
whether the causes of his changed condition arose prior
or subsequent to his landing, he shall be deported.
There are various practical difficulties with such a plan,
the chief one being that of identification, but, in view of
the decision in the Turner case, such a plan would prob-
ably be held to be constitutional.
The other plan is to adopt some more or less arbitrary
test, which, while open to theoretical objection—as anypracticable test must be—nevertheless will on the wholeexclude those people whom we wish excluded. It mustbe a definite test, because one trouble with the "pubHccharge" clause of the present law, under which mostexclusions now occur, is that it is so vague and elastic
that it can be interpreted to suit the temper of any of
the higher officials who may happen to be charged withthe execution of the law. As I have elsewhere repeated-ly shown those persons who cannot read in their ownlanguage are, in general, those who are also ignorant of atrade, who bring little money with them, who settle in
the city slums, who have a low standard of living andHttle ambition to seek a better, and who do not assimi-late rapidly or appreciate our institutions. It is notclaimed that an illiteracy test is a test of moral char-acter, but it would undoubtedly exclude a good manypersons who now fill our prisons and almshouses, andwould lessen the burden upon ovir schools and machineryof justice. In a country having universal suffrage it
is also an indispensable requirement for citizenship, and
SELECTION OF IMMIGRATION 21
citizenship in its broadest sense means much more thanthe right to the ballot. The illiteracy test has passed the
Senate three times and the House four times in the last
eight years. It has been endorsed by several State
legislatures, a large proportion of the boards of asso-
ciated charities of the country, and by numerous in-
telligent persons familiar with immigration matters,
including the State associations for promoting immi-gration above referred to. This test has already beenadopted by the Commonwealth of Australia and by Bri-
tish Columbia, and would have certainly been adopted
here long since but for the opposition of the transpor-
tation companies.
It is no doubt true that many of the newer immigrantsare eager to have their children educated, and that manyof these children are good scholars. But this fact
strikes us the more forcibly because it is the one ray of
hope in a dark situation. I do not know that anyone
has ever claimed that these foreign-bom children are
superior in any way to native-bom children, and the
latter acquire the most valuable part of civic education
by hearsay and imitation in their own homes, while the
foreign bom have their only training in the school.
Furthermore, everyone admits the enormous burden of
educating such a large mass of children, illiterate as to
even their own language. This is in addition to the
burden of the adult illiterates imposed on a country
which already has its problems of rural and negro educa-
tion. There is no doubt that an illiteracy test would not
only give us elbow room to work out our own problems
of education, but would greatly promote elementary
education in Europe. Why should we take upon our-
selves a burden which properly belongs to the countries
from which these immigrants come?
Whatever view we may take of the immigration ques-
22 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
tion there can be no doubt that it is one of the most itn-
portant, if not the most important, problems of our
time, and, as such, it deserves the careful study of all
our citizens. We are trustees of our civilization and in-
stitutions with a duty to the future, and as trustees the
stocks of population in which we invest should belimited by the principle of a careful selection of im-
migrants.
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN IDEALS'
GoBTNEAU once said, "America is likely to be, not thecradle of a new, but the grave of an old race." Is there,
indeed, a danger that the race which has made our coun-try great will pass away, and that the ideals and in-
stitutions which it has cherished will also pass ?
It seems to be generally agreed that down to the
period of fifteen years or so after the close of the Civil
War there was a fairly definite American type, whichhad expressed itself, not so much in literature or art, as
in politics and invention, and in certain social ideals.
Washington and Lincoln, however different in some re-
spects, both represented a certain type of English civi-
lization, and both stood for certain political, social, andethical points of view. The original settlers of this
country were mainly Teutonic, belonging to what is
now called the Baltic race, from Northern Europe,which
has always been distinguished for energy, initiative, and
self-reliance. Impatient of much government, relying
upon self-help rather than the paternalism of the State,
this race was none the less firm in its allegiance to cer-
tain pretty definite religious and social standards. It
insisted from the beginning on general education, and
where opportunities for schooling were wanting there
was nevertheless a wide training given by interchange of
ideas in the home, on the farm, in the church, and in the
town meeting. In town affairs every citizen was ex-
pected to take part, and usually did so, thus conferring
' Reprinted from The North American Review, January, 1912.
23
24 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
a benefit on the community and receiving something 'n
exchange. The result of this common racial origin and
of these relatively homogeneous institutions was, as I
have said, the amalgamation of the people into a fairly
definite national type. ^
What has happened since then? To-day, less than
one-half of our people are descendants of the original
stock and of the early settlers. Since 1820, we have
received from Europe and Asia some twenty-eight
millions of people. About one-third of these came
prior to 1880 and were of races kindred to those already
here; in other words, they had a common heritage of
institutions if not of language, and were assimilated into
the general population with comparative ease. Theother two-thirds, the eighteen millions who have comesince 1880, have been, on the other hand, of entirely
different races—of Alpine, Mediterranean, Asiatic, andAfrican stocks. These races have an entirely different
mental make-up from the Baltic race; they bring with
them an inheritance of widely differing political andsocial ideals, and a training imder social and political
institutions very different from ours. The Slavic races,
for example, differ from the Teutonic in temperamentas much as the emotional nations of the Mediterranean.
The South Italian, which constitutes the largest ele-
ment in our present immigration, is one of the mostmixed races in Europe and is partly African, owing to
the negroid migration from Carthage to Italy. Themodem Greek is by no means the Greek of the time of
' Perhaps the best statement of the proper conditions of race mixtureis in Houston Stewart Chamberlain's Foundations of the XlXth Century,
vol. I, chap, iv, " The Chaos." He points out that the successful cases
of amalgamation have been those where there has been an immigrationof kindred races only, and such immigration has continued for a com-paratively brief period and then ceased. This was precisely the situation
in the United States prior to 1880.
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN IDEALS 25
Pericles, either in race or temperament. The Hebrew,which constitutes the next largest element of immigra-
tion, in spite of long residence in Europe is still, as it
always has been, an Asiatic race; while the Syrians,
Chinese, Japanese, and Hindus are still more removedfrom the civilization of Northern Europe and America.
This movement of peoples from the Old World to
the New is on a scale unprecedented in history, and its
effects cannot fail to be profound and far-reaching.
What will they be?
Americans have hitherto paid very little attention to
this question : first, because they have not considered
the difference between hostile and peaceful invasions in
history, and second, because they fail to observe that
recent immigration is of an entirely different kind from
that which our fathers knew. The earlier immigration
having been of kindred races and having produced no
profound changes, our people became used to the phe-
nomenon and took it as a matter of course. At the
present time, most of us consider that the movementnow going on is similar to that which has been, and
anticipate results no different from those previously
observed.
If the million people coming every year came not as
peaceful travelers, but as an invading hostile army, pub-
lic opinion would be very different to what it is ; and yet
history shows that it has usually been the peaceful mi-
grations and not the conquering armies which have
undermined and changed the institutions of peoples.
To take the classical error on this subject, we have been
told repeatedly that, on the one hand, it was the
conquering Goths and Vandals, and on the other hand,
their own vice and luxury, which cost the Romans their
empire. The real cause of the fall of Rome was neither
of these things. It was the constant infiltration into
26 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
Roman citizenship of large numbers of "barbarians"
—
that is, of races alien in instincts and habits of thought
and action to the races which had built up the RomanEmpire. For a time, indeed, the mold of political struc-
ture and social habit, though cracking, did not break;
but the newcomers assimilated the Romans faster
than they were themselves assimilated, and in time the
mold broke in pieces. In precisely the same way some
provinces of France are to-day becoming German, and
others Italian, while the Germans are consciously mak-
ing use of this method in their attempt to Prussianize
Poland.
The "barbarians" of the present time, however, do
not come from the plateaus of central Asia or from the
jungles of Africa; they are the defective and delinquent
classes of Europe—the individuals who have not been
able to keep the pace at home and have fallen into the
lower strata of its civilization.
Formerly, America was a hard place to get to, and a
hard life awaited those who came, although the free
and fertile land offered rich prizes to those with the
energy to grasp them. To-day, the steamship agent is
in every little town in Europe ; fast steamers can bring
thousands in a few days, and wages, often indeed not
enough for an American to live decently on, but large
in the eyes of the poor European peasants, await the
immigrant on landing. There is, moreover, abundanttestimony to the fact that much of the present immigra-
tion is not even a normal flow of population, but is
artificially stimulated in every possible way by the
transportation companies which have many millions
invested in the traffic.
Now there are two hopeful attitudes with regard to
the possible dangers from this "peaceful invasion."
One of them is that we can continue, as we have in the
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN IDEALS 27
past, to assimilate all this material and turn it into goodAmerican citizens. This was the general attitude until
recently, and is still the attitude of the average man whodoes not fear the future. The other attitude is that,
although perhaps we cannot do this, although the aliens
may to some extent assimilate us, yet the seething of
the melting-pot will remove the dross and turn out aproduct, possibly new, but at any rate as good, if not
better, than the old.
It is important to consider the truth of these points
of view, because the social and political institutions of
any country depend upon the type of its citizenship andare molded by it. Ruskin long ago observed that the
only real wealth is human character, and what boots anextended railroad mileage or the fact that all our coal
and minerals are dug up or all our trees cut down someyears or decades sooner, if at the end our democracygoes to pieces ? We have heard much lately of the con-
servation of natural resources, but the conservation of
ideals is surely much more important.
Those who believe that we can assimilate all the aliens
who may come usually qualify their belief by saying
that, although we may not succeed entirely with the
parents, we can succeed with the children, and that the
salvation of the situation is the public school. Theyalso point out that many immigrants have had little
opportunity for improvement in their own countries
and may develop rapidly in a new environment. Nowjust as the Latin races make a fetish of the State, weAmericans are apt to make a fetish of education, and
we constantly fail to discriminate between education
as the molding of character and education as the im-
parting of information. Far the larger part of a child's
education comes from his home and his companions,
rather than from his schooling. Emulation and imita-
28 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
tion are the two mainsprings of his growth. We should
never forget the somewhat hackneyed truth that educa-
tion, in general, brings out what is in the man, be it
good or bad, and seldom puts much there which was not
there before. For this reason it is very questionable
whether the small amount of schooling the children of
most aliens receive plays a very large part in the total
of influences brought to bear upon them ; and it is still
more debatable whether it appreciably alters their char-
acters, or does anything more than bring out their
inherited instincts and tendencies. Undoubtedly immi-
grant children crowd our schools because it aids them in
the struggle for existence, and is usually paid for bysomeone else. Undoubtedly, also, many of them ob-
tain high marks and show considerable capacity for
storing up information.
Nevertheless, as has been said, schooling is but a small
part of the influences to which the child is subject, andthe tendency of recent immigrants to crowd into the
cities and to settle in racial groups means that a verylarge part of the influences affecting the children will bethose of their neighbors and co-workers of the same race.
As in John Bunyan's parable, a small quantity of oil
poured secretly and steadily upon a fire will cause it to
withstand a large quantity of water poured upon it
from all directions. Moreover, to a great extent this
water of public-school education will fail to quenchhereditary passions, because the latter are so strongthat the former will be vaporized, so to speak, and passoff without closely touching them. Dr. Gustav LeBon,in his Political Psychology, has thus expressed this
phase of the matter
:
"Education merely sums up the results of a civiliza-tion; the institutions and the beliefs representing theneeds of such civilization. If, then, a civilization does
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN IDEALS 29
not harmonize with the ideas and sentiments of a people,the education setting forth this civilization will remainwithout effect upon it ; in the same way that institutionscorresponding to certain needs will not correspond todifferent needs."
The result in such a case will be, not a true amalgama-tion of races, but a mixture of peoples as in Austria-
Hungary, living side by side, sharing certain interests
in common, but never wholly merging into a general
national type.
This is, indeed, what many educators like Dr. Charles
W. Eliot expect and rejoice in. Dr. Eliot does not share
in the second view—that the melting-pot will fuse the
various races into one. And he rejoices because, in his
view, half-breeds of any races are inferior to their
parents, just as alloys of metals are not as valuable as
the metals themselves. And he is right. The evidence
on this point is convincing. Dr. Alfred P. Schultz, in
his Race or Mongrel, gives numerous examples drawn
from history, one of the most conspicuous being that of
the Jews, who, wherever they have kept their racial
purity, have kept also their fine qualities of energy,
push, and mental alertness, but have deteriorated
rapidly when intermarried with other races. Hum-boldt and Darwin have declared the same truth. Agas-
siz, in a well-known passage, says
:
'
' Let any one who doubts the evil of the mixture of
races and who is inclined from mistaken philanthropy
to break down all barriers between them come to Brazil.
He cannot deny the deterioration consequent upon the
amalgamation of races, more wide-spread here than in
any country in the world and which is rapidly effacing
the best qualities of the white man, the Indian, and the
negro, leaving a mongrel nondescript type deficient in
physical and mental energy."
30 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
The same thing has happened in Cuba, in Mexico, and
other countries to the south of us. But is there any
danger of this occurring in the United States? It has
not occurred in the past because the only race outside of
the Teutonic immigrants present in large numbers has
been the negro, and the Baltic races have an insur-
mountable prejudice against intermarriage with the
black races. The Mediterranean and Asiatic races, on
the other hand, have much less of this feeling. The
negro strain in the South Italians has been already men-
tioned, and there are some examples of intermarriage
between negroes and Jews. What would happen if a
large Mediterranean population should be colonized in
our Southern States and should interbreed with the
negro population it finds there? This is not an imagin-
ary possibility, for the dark-skinned races are more
likely to settle in the southern part of this country;
indeed, it must be so if Major Woodruff is correct in his
view that the blond races cannot permanently live south
of the fortieth parallel on accoimt of the effects of the
light on their nervous systems. Let us assiune that
some interbreeding with the negroes takes place. Will
the descendants of the emotional, fiery Italians submit
to the social judgment that a man with a sixteenth or a
thirty-second part of negro blood is a colored man whomust occupy a position socially, if not politically, in-
ferior? Assuredly not, and thoughtful Southerners are
already alarmed by this prospect and have announced
through many of their industrial conventions that they
do not desire the immigration of southeastern Euro-
peans. The Western States feel the same way about
Asiatics, both for racial and economic reasons.
Even if the result of the immigration of southeastern
Europeans to the South should not immediately be aninterbreeding, the result may be to add other problems
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN IDEALS 31
to the one we already have there. Mr. Booker T.
Washington, who has recently been investigating con-
ditions in Europe, expresses this view when he says
:
"I greatly fear that if these people should come in
large numbers and settle in colonies outside the cities,
where they would have comparatively few educationaladvantages, and where they would be better able andmore disposed to preserve their native customs andlanguages, we might have a racial problem in the Southmore difficult and more dangerous than that which is
caused by the presence of the negro."'
But whether the result be an amalgamation or a
mixture, it is evident that the nation will be profoundly
altered by the addition of large numbers of persons with
alien habits and ideals, and that the social and political
structure will be changed accordingly. Dr. LeBon, in
the work above quoted, says
:
"A preponderating influence of foreigners is a stue
solvent of the existence of States. It takes away from apeople its most precious possession—^its soul. Whenaliens became numerous in the Roman Empire it
ceased to be."
And again:
'
' Itwas a very sure instinct which taught the ancients
the fear of strangers: they well knew that worth of acountry is not measured by the number of its inhabi-
tants, but by the number of its citizens."
Can we not already see certain effects of the newer im-
migration upon our social life? In many places the
' The first part of this quotation is almost the exact language used by
George Washington in a letter to John Adams, November 27, 1794. Of
course, he was speaking of the relatively homogeneous immigration of
his day.
32 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
Continental Sunday, with its games and sports, its
theatrical and musical performances, and its open bars,
is taking the place of the Puritan Sabbath. In some of
our factory towns there are many operatives living
under the system of free marriage, and in at least one
place the method of building tenements has been altered
to correspond to this system. Professor Commons notes
that we have already begun to despotize our institutions
in order to deal with large masses of citizens not capable
of intelligently supporting representative government.
We see, also, the phenomena of political parties andgroups on racial lines, with their own newspapers in
foreign languages, seeking representation as racial
units precisely as in Austria. These groups have al-
ready taken a conspicuous part in opposing immigrationlegislation, already existing or proposed, which makesit more difficult for their friends and relatives to comehere; and, under our political system, these foreign-
born groups already hold the balance of power in manyplaces. This means that they often divide, not on public
policy, but on some matter of racial advantage. In anycase they do not and cannot combine to make parties
like those of the older population.
All these changes may be good or bad, but they can-not fail to impress us; and, if these changes rise abovethe swirling mass of events and catch our eyes, we maybe sure that more profound changes are in processbeneath the surface.
"We have to contend not only with ahen habits andideals, and with the fact that these differences cannotbe effaced by education in one or even two generations,but also with the fact that we are getting a, great manyimmigrants who are below the mental, moral, andphysical average of both om country and their own. Arecent writer in a leading German review has said:
THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN IDEALS 33
"The immigration of the last decade has increased thenumber of hands, but not the number of heads, in theUnited States." While this may be an extreme state-
ment, there is the unanimous testimony of the Commis-sioner-General of Immigration, the Commissioner at thePort of New York, and the Immigration Commission,which has recently spent several years studying thematter, to the fact that for one immigrant whose defects
are so marked as to put him in the classes excluded bylaw there are hundreds, if not thousands, who are belowthe average of our people, and who, as George WilliamCurtis put it, are "watering the nation's life blood."
Recent investigations in eugenics show that heredity
is a much more important factor than environment as
regards social conditions—^in fact, that in most cases
heredity is what makes the environment. This is con-
firmed by the practice of the insurance companies
which attach the chief importance to the hereditary
characteristics of an individual. If this position is
sound, education and distribution can only palliate the
evils and delay fundamental changes. As Professor
Karl Pearson says: "You cannot change the leopard's
spots, and you cannot change bad stock to good; youmay dilute it, possibly spread it over a large area, spoil-
ing good stock, but until it ceases to multiply it will not
cease to be."
Intelligent foreigners, like Bourget, H. G. Wells, andLeBon, are continually surprised that Americans pay so
little regard to these matters. Already our neighbor to
the north has become much more strict as to those she
admits than we are ; and, in fact, the Dominion is nowrejecting at the border many whom we have admitted.
And in our own practice we are not very logical, for weare much more stringent in regulations as to importing
cattle, sheep, hogs, dogs, and horses than we are as to
34 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
human beings. The English sparrow and the gypsy
moth were not considered dangerous when first im-
ported, but by their multipHcation have done serious
damage. The history of the Jukes family in New YorkState shows how much harm can be done by immigra-
tion of a single pair of defectives.
The foregoing is not intended to be a pessimistic wail.
Our people are successful in part because they are op-
timistic, and in general they have little use for prophets
of evil. Nor has the writer forgotten for a momenteither what the country owes to past immigration, or
that much of the present immigration is desirable andvaluable. But our optimism should not be blind. Sum-ner once said of Garrison that he would go straight
ahead even if the next step were over a precipice. If
there is a precipice ahead we should avoid it while there
is time, not merely for our own sake, but that the UnitedStates may continue strong to uphold the cause of
democracy and liberty throughout the world.
THE BUILDING SITUATION IN BROOKLINE'
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Some of the other speakers to-night will give us, I
hope, the benefit of experience in other towns, notably
Mr. Parker, of the Housing Committee of the Massa-
chusetts Civic League, who will be here presently.
Meanwhile I wish to outline a little of the situation as it
is to-day in Brookline.
It is a commonplace of history that geography has a
great deal to do with the development of commtmitylife, and Brookline is divided, I think, because many or
most of us live along certain radial streets leading out of
Boston. One result of that is that we do not get to-
gether in many things as could be wished, and one object
of the Civic Society is to overcome that difficulty and
bring people together on questions of this sort. How-ever, whatever the explanation may be, Brookline has
been very slow about adopting some things, and one of
them is in relation to the building law in regard to
wooden tenements. Brookline has been four years
behind other communities in recognizing what the
Delphic Oracle told the Athenians a great many years
ago, that the way to destroy a nation is by the use of
wooden walls. Although the wooden walls of Themis-
tocles happened to be on the water, they were, neverthe-
less, three-deckers and did great service. Brookline is
'An address before the Brookline Civic Society, May 31, 1916. Re-
printed from the Brookline Chronicle of June 3, 1916.
35
36 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
the thirty-sixth town, chronologically speaking, to
forbid wooden walls. Only Cambridge, Somerville,
Waltham, and Needham, and parts of Boston, are
behind it on this subject, and Cambridge hopes to
pass an ordinance very soon.
The present Brookline law defines tenements as
apartment houses for more than two families or for two
families above the first floor, and including lodging
houses, hotels, and what were originally called tenement
houses. Since last year aU tenement houses are to be
second class, that is brick. First class construction is
fireproof throughout ; second class houses have woodenor frame interior and brick outside walls ; the third class
construction means wooden walls and wooden frames.
The only third class houses to-day which can be erected
are single and two-family houses, and the second class
covers tenements of not more than three stories and of
not more than four stories if certain partial fireproofing
is used, also apartment houses of three stories with six
apartments and of four stories with eight apartments if
certain fireproofing is used in those. All other apart-
ment houses must be first class.
It is interesting to know that there are not over six
first class apartment or tenement houses in this townat present. That siu-prised me and I think will surprise
you. Last year we asked for this amendment prohibit-
ing wooden walls. We might have asked for the general
town law, but we did not because the law containsmany provisions some of which are not considered as
good as the Brookline building law, and it was thoughtbetter not to adopt it in its entirety. The result of thedelay in this matter is that twenty-three towns havegot ahead of us in adopting the Town Tenement HouseAct. These towns are Arlington, Bedford, Belmont,Braintree, Concord, Dedham, Hingham, Lexington
BUILDING SITUATION IN BROOKLINE 37
Lincoln, Millis, Milton, Nahant, North Andover,
Reading, Stoneham, Swampscott, Walpole, Watertown,
Wenham, Weston, Weymouth, Winthrop, and Wake-field. This Act requires all tenement houses over two
and one-half stories or for more than two families to be
fireproof, and Winchester, Medford, and Maiden also
require apartment houses to be fireproof. Now the
result of this action in the surrounding towns is the
invasion of Brookline by jerrybuilders, so-called. These
people come into a town which has not adopted the law
to protect itself by legislation : this has been the result
in other places.
Last year a member of the Economics Department of
Harvard University made a special study of the TownTenement House Act, and went about among the towns
and inquired about the workings of the Act. He found
that in nearly all cases the Act was adopted to prevent
invasion from outside. Thus Arlington adopted it on
account of people coming in from Cambridge and
Somerville; Belmont adopted it to prevent people com-
ing from Waltham; Swampscott adopted it to prevent
people coming from Lynn; Salem adopted it because
people came from Wenham and Beverly. The builders
in most cases who erect cheap buildings live outside the
town. They do not as a rule build for owners in the
town. This is also true of Brookline : in other words,
builders who live somewhere else, chiefly in Chelsea
and Dorchester, find that they are able to buy land and
build at fairly cheap prices in Brookline. They come in
and put up such buildings as they want, not for sale
to Brookline people but in order to sell the lands and
buildings as a speculation for the best price they can.
The builders claim that this is "improving" the land,
although that is a gift like the Trojan horse; but we
have at least insisted that the Trojan horse shall
38 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
not be made of wood, but shall be of clay outside
instead.
What was the building situation in Brookline in 1914?
We had a total of 294 buildings during the year, and I
may say that there has been a great boom in building
recently. The total cost of these buildings was
$2,172,000.
In 1915 there were 232 wooden buildings erected and
174 brick buildings or 406 buildings altogether, as
compared with 294 the year before ; and the total cost
was $4,132,050 as compared with $2,172,000 the year
before. In other words the value of buildings last year
was nearly double what it was in 1914.
Now, of apartments alone in 191 5, 140 permits were
issued for wooden three-deckers. Of these 96 were re-
voked and six surrendered, making 102 representing a
value of $724,000. There were actually erected, there-
fore, only 38 wooden three-deckers last year, and of all
the apartments erected last year there were one of the
first class, 99 of the second class—these buildings had
brick walls—and 38 of the third class,—a total of 138
apartment houses as compared with 194 other frame
buildings which were not apartment houses.
For this year so far there have been 32 permits issued
for second class apartments, and none for first class.
And of the 32 permits 29 are three-deckers; one of which
was a nine-apartment house and two were six-apartment
houses. As I said before, at present there are not over
six apartment houses of first class construction in town,
even among the larger high buildings which are numer-ous along Beacon Street and other parts of the town.
That being the situation and the wooden three-decker
being cut off, unless something is done there will be a
very large increase of the brick second class apartment
house, and large areas of Brookline will be built of the
BUILDING SITUATION IN BROOKLINE 39
three-apartment houses in the same way as the BackBay region between the Fenway and Boylston Street
and Huntington Avenue and on Huntington Avenuecoming towards Brookline, and out towards Allston and
Cambridge.
All the arguments used against wooden three-deckers
apply to the three-decker of brick, except that as to
appearance. There is first the argument as to the effect
on land values,^—the fact that the apartment house,
whether the walls are brick or wood, where numbers are
brought into a single house, causes the neighborhood
immediately to depreciate. The value of houses and
lands depreciates and therefore the taxable values are
reduced. The fact that the brick apartment house
brings in, in many cases, a class of people who do not
have the same permanent interest in the town as those
who own their own single homes and perhaps do not
take as much interest in town government and affairs,
—
the fact which I spoke of before, that the town loses a
considerable sum in taxable value owing to the deprecia-
tion of the land value in houses and lands which are
affected by the new class of people and the increase in
town expenses which are necessary to provide accommo-
dation in school and fire and police departments,—all
such drawbacks of this large tenement house population
are not balanced by the increased personal property
which this population brings in. It is perfectly true
that anybody who pays rent pays a certain amount of
tax in that rent, but it is also true that the man whoowns his own single house pays taxes on his house and
land and also in most cases pays a personal tax beside,
so that the tax which the tenement house brings in the
form of additional rent probably does not bring the town
nearly the same return for the increased outlay which
would be the case with people owning their own homes.
40 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
Now in the towns that have adopted the Town Tene-
ment House Act there has been a great satisfaction with
the result . The same member of the Economics Depart-
ment of Harvard College of whom I spoke interviewed
nimierous people in Lexington, Belmont, and other
places. Several people in Lexington said the Act was
the minimum of what should be done in house erection
;
and one of the Belmont inspectors, and a leading real
estate man, said that low price housing for wage earners
could be satisfactorily worked out under the TownTenement House Act. Another building inspector said
that buildings not constructed under that Act are
economic waste which sooner or later falls on the poor
man. The general testimony was that while first class
construction costs 20 to 30 per cent more than second
class construction it has not checked legitimate building
in those towns.
I will not take time to go into the figures here. Wehave them from Belmont, Watertown, Arlington, and a
number of other places for a number of years; but it
appears that except inWinthrop, which is under special
conditions, the values have increased—^very much in-
creased, and the property has likewise increased. Inother words, the adoption of the Act rather encouragedpersons to go into towns and those already there wereencouraged to build more valuable structures. TheAct has not been a detriment but a benefit to the towns.Of course in the case of fireproof buildings the insur-
ance risk and fire risk is much less also. One possible
objection is made to this movement requiring all tene-ment houses three stories or more to be fireproof, andthat is this
:it is true that if a man is to build a first class
building it will be cheaper for him to build a high build-ing than a low one, therefore if we adopt this provisionit will tend to send apartment houses up in the air. In
BUILDING SITUATION IN BROOKLINE 41
fact I was told this morning that one or two of the build-
ing companies were anxious to have such an amendmentgo through, with the idea of building high structures
with small kitchenettes. Whether that is a sincere
expression of their idea I doubt. But experience in other
places has not borne out the idea of danger in that direc-
tion. If there is a danger then we must take up the
question of the limitation of height. The Planning
Board is now considering the question of revising the
rules. If we should find there are too many high apart-
ment houses, houses running up too high, we must re-
vise the building restrictions to take care of that. Such
a prohibition in Chicago for the last ten years as to four
stories or more has kept Chicago down to a three-story
city. They have a provision that all tenement houses
of four stories or more in the residential section shall be
fireproof. The result has been that it has practically
kept that section of the city down to a three-story level
in nearly all cases, so we have considerable doubt
whether if such an amendment were adopted it would
result in sending buildings to any extent up in the air.
The real question is. What sort of development do wewant in Brookline ? The question of the poor man is not
really involved in this case, because in the first place the
poor man does not live in the kind of brick tenement
which is erected now in the second class, at least until
it has become relatively old and undesirable. Also the
question of the poor man can be solved in other ways.
When I studied the matter last year in reference to
wooden buildings I felt that it was possible to build
brick buildings of two or two and one-half stories on
low-priced land which could compete with the wooden
three-apartment house and also with the brick three-
apartment house. But in some way or other that matter
can undoubtedly be taken care of. So far as the argu-
42 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERES:rS
ment sometimes made is concerned, that we should con-
sider our building laws with reference to the greatest
number of people that can possibly get into Brookline,
I have never been able to understand such a point of
view. Of course we all realize that certain persons who
work for us in various ways have to be housed reason-
ably near by, but there is no very great difficulty on that
score as yet, and in the near future we hope that certain
experiments now under way will demonstrate that it is
possible to erect neat, attractive, workingmen's cottages
to rent from $i8 to $20 per month which will take care
of such working people as we have got here. Manyof them do not need to be here. Many of them
have come in the past from Roxbury and other places
to work in Brookline. That was the case with the
Holtzer-Cabot people, a large number of whom camefrom Roxbury.
But at any rate there does not seem to be any neces-
sity for letting things drift. It seems to me that weought to take up this subject and consider what sort of
development we want in Brookline, and that in view of
the action taken by the surrounding towns, unless wedo something of this sort we shall immediately become
the dumping ground for all the cheaper builders and
cheaper dwellers, comparatively speaking, who live in
cheap buildings. Of course there are many desirable
people who live in cheap buildings—I do not deny it
—
but taking it in a large way, which is necessary in deal-
ing with this subject, I think it may be said that unless
we take some action we shall deteriorate our land values
and buildings and to some extent deteriorate the average
population. What will be proposed next fall to the townwill be what I have indicated, namely, requiring tene-
ment and lodging apartments of three stories or more to
be fireproof. That will bring the town into harmony
BUILDING SITUATION IN BROOKLINE 43
with the Town House Tenement Act although we do not
formally adopt the Act. It is a question of what Brook-
line people really want, and it devolves upon you to give
consideration to the matter and decide about it.
BRIEF IN FAVOR OF THE NUMERICALLIMITATION BILL'
(,66th Congress, H. R. 10837, contained in Publication No. 6q of the League;
see also ^gofH. R. 12320, introduced by the Chairman of the
House Committee on Immigration, Feb. 4, ig2o)
The League's bill limits the number of aliens from any nation whomay come in, during any year, to such percentage between twenty and
fifty of the number of males of such nationality naturalized in the
United States at the date of the preceding census, as the Secretary of
Labor may fix, having regard to labor conditions here.
Aliens returning from a temporary visit abroad, aliens coming to join
certain relatives, and certain classes of professional persons may enter in
addition to the maximum fixed by the bill.
The bill does not apply to natives of the Western Hemisphere; andleaves Oriental immigration to be regulated as at present.
A. Further restriction of inunigration both as to
quantity and quality is essential to the preservation of
American ideals and institutions.
Prior to 1880, immigration was chiefly from races akin
to the original settlers in race, institutions and historical
background. Since 1880, the opposite is the case. In
1880, 65 per cent of the total immigration came fromNorthern and Western Europe. In 1914, the last year
of large immigration before the war, 68 per cent of the
total immigration was of the Slavic and Iberic races of
Eastern and Southern Europe. Whatever the merits of
these latter races of immigrants, they are not familiar
with democratic institutions, are largely ignorant of the
'Publications of the Immigration Restriction League, No. 73.
44
NUMERICAL LIMITATION BILL 45
English language, and until the Act of 1917 were
more than one third illiterate even as to their townlanguage.
As Gustav Le Bon says, too large a preponderance of
foreigners (meaning those foreign in ideas and customs)
destroys that most vital possession of a nation—^its ownsoul. The downfall of nearly every great civilization
has been due in large part to the peaceful invasion of
large numbers of persons having different aims andcustoms.
B. Further restriction of immigration, both as to
quantity and quality, is essential to the Americanization
of immigrants already here and those to be admitted
hereafter.
To attempt to assimilate the enormous immigrant
population already here, to teach it our language and
something of our history and government, above all, to
imbue it with our traditions and ideals, in the face of an
additional immigration of a million or more a year, is a
hopeless task. It is like trying to keep a leaking boat
dry without stopping the leak.
Adequate assimilation means not only great labor and
expense, but it requires time. It requires something
more than evening classes for adults, and flag exercises in
the schools. Many aliens are settled in communities
where they hear only their own language, and read, if
they are able to read, only newspapers in that language.
The most potent assimilative force is contact and ex-
change of ideas with the native population. This re-
quires time, even in the case of the children. Meanwhile
we need elbow-room to make adequate progress with
those already here; as is shown in League Publication
No. 74 by Robert De C. Ward.
46 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
C. The preservation of American institutions and
the assimilation of immigrants demand that the bulk
of further immigration should be of kindred races.
It is obvious that those whose home government,
institutions and habits are more akin to our own will
most easily fit into our life here and be the easiest to
assimilate socially, economically and politically.
D. The proposed bill operates along the same lines
as the reading test in the Act of 1917, but is needed to
supplement that test.
In the opinion of government officials and expert
students of the matter, the reading test has proved to
be one of the most valuable features of the law. In 191 7,
the total ntunber of illiterates over fourteen years of age
admitted was 35,510; in 1918, the total number of
illiterates admitted over sixteen years of age, under the
exceptions in the law, was 3,772. This reduction waseffected chiefly in the aliens from Southern and Eastern
Europe, where the rate of illiteracy is high. The reading
test has also proved valuable in excluding feeble-minded
and other defective persons who might not have been
excluded without it.
But the effect of the reading test will presently di-
minish; partly through the natiual spreading of educa-
tion to the countries backward in that respect, partly
because those same countries will make special efforts to
promote elementary education. This latter effect of
the law is noticeable in Italy, where, since the passageof the test, preparations are being made to make readingavailable to all intending emigrants. The increase in
popular education abroad is one of the beneficial results
of onr present immigration law.
Therefore some measure operating along the same
NUMERICAL LIMITATION BILL 47
lines is needed to supplement the reading test before the
latter begins to lose its effect.
E. The proposed bill, while reducing the total
volume of immigration, reduces it chiefly as to those
countries of Eastern and Southern Europe whoseemigrants are less easily assimilated here.
As stated above underA and B, what is needed is that
aliens shall not be allowed to come in faster than they
can be assimilated. This implies a reduction of the total
number from the million a year who came to us before
the war ; and especially a reduction in such a way that
the bulk of immigration shall be of the kindred races of
Northern and Western Europe.
The proposed bill, under its maximum provision of 50
per cent, would have had the following effect in a year
of normally large immigration like 19 14:
Actually Admissibleadmitted under bill
Northern and Western Europe 189,177 1,090,500
Southern and Eastern Europe 945,288 279,288
In other words, the total European immigration
would have been reduced to 43 per cent of the actual
volume by reducing the immigration from Southern and
Eastern Europe to 29 per cent of its actual volume.
The proposed bill, tinder its minimum provision of
20 per cent, would have had the following effect in 1914
:
Actually Admissibleadmitted under bill
Northern and Western Europe 189.177 436,200
Southern and Eastern Europe 945.288 111.715
In other words, the total European immigration
would have been reduced to 26 per cent of its actual
48 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
volume, by reducing the immigration from Southern and
Eastern Europe to 12 per cent of its actual volume.
It will be noticed that the number, admissible under
the bill, from Northern and Western Europe, is muchlarger than actually came in 1914, and than is likely to
come in any future year.
It is possible that some increase of these races might
take place when they are no longer so subject to the
overwhelming competition of the races from Southern
and Eastern Europe. In the past, such competition
has been a powerful factor in checking immigration
from Northern and Western Europe. But much in-
crease is not likely, and if it took place, being of kindred
races it would be more easily assimilated.
F. The proposed bill would discriminate against
those less assimilable.
Most of the arguments in favor of the reading test
(set forth in Publications Nos. 56 and 63) support this
bill also. The races of Eastern and Southern Europe are
relatively illiterate; and investigation has shown that
illiteracy goes hand in hand with various other undesir-
able qualities which make assimilation difficult.
The recent immigration, for example, does not dis-
tribute itself over the country to build up new communi-ties, as did the earlier ; but tends to congregate in certain
States, in the large cities of those States, and in the
congested districts of those cities.
The Census of iQio, Volume I, Population, page 814,
showed that the States of New York, New Jersey andPennsylvania contained 67.8 per cent of all the Rouma-nians in the United States; 64.0 per cent of all the Hun-garians; 58.4 per cent of all the Italians; and 55.7 per
cent of all the Russians. This compares with 34.8 per
NUMERICAL LIMITATION BILL 49
cent of the English, 33.8 per cent of the French, 30.2
per cent of the Germans and 13.2 per cent of the Swedes.
Volume I, page 818, showed that 78.6 per cent of those
from Eastern and Southern Europe live in cities as
compared with 68.3 per cent of those from Northern andWestern Europe. Volume I, page 1273, shows that, of
those unable to speak English, 69.2 per cent live in cities.
In 1900, Chicago contained 91 per cent of all the Poles
in Illinois, and 84 per cent of all the Italians. New YorkCity contained 47 per cent of all the Poles in the State,
80 per cent of all the Italians and 94 per cent of all the
Russian Jews. The Seventh Special Report of the United
States Commissioner of Labor (1894, P- 44) shoWed that
natives of Austria-Hungary, Italy, Poland and Russia
constituted 6 times their normal proportion in the slums
of Baltimore, 7 times in Chicago, 5 times in New Yorkand 26 times in Philadelphia.
This tendency to slum Ufe is largely due to ignorance
of gainful trades, and in part to lack of savings. The
Report of the Industrial Commission showed that in
1900, while the British and Germans brought with
them $30 to $40 per capita, the Southern Italians,
Poles and Hebrews brought less than $10.
G. The basis of exclusion in the bill, namely an
annual immigration limited to from 20 to 50 per cent
of the males of any nationality naturalized at the date
of the last census, is a sound one.
The best test of assimilation and of the desire of those
of any race to throw in their lot with us permanently
is the degree to which they become naturalized. Races
who do this are in general those most nearly kindred to
us, as appears from the following table.
The Census of igio, Volume I, page 1072, gave the
50 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
proportion of foreign-born males of voting age who were
naturalized, for the nations specified, as follows
:
Northern and Western Europe Eastern and Southern Europe
Germany 69.5 Turkey in Europe 43-0
Wales 69.2 Roumania 28.8
Ireland 67.8 Russia 26.1
Sweden 62.8 Portugal 24.9
Switzerland 61.8 Austria 24.6
Denmark 61.6 Turkey in Asia 21.2
Norway 57.1 Italy i7-7
Netherlands 56.8 Spain 16.4
France 49.6 Hungary 14.3
Belgium 43.0 Greece 6.6
H. This bill does not in any way repeal or modify
the present laws excluding Oriental iimnigration. It
is entirely different from the so-called "Gulick" bill.
This League believes that, whatever the merits of
the Chinese, Japanese and Hindus may be, the public
opinion of this country is entirely justified in demanding
that they be substantially excluded, as at present, and
not allowed to come into economic competition here
with our manual workers. It has therefore opposed and
now opposes the Gulick bill, which repeals all specific
Oriental exclusion and retains as the only barrier a per-
centage limitation. Although the/Gulick bill is also a
numerical limitation plan, its basis for exclusion is
different from that of the League's bill ; and, in the opin-
ion of experts, the Gulick plan might allow several
million Orientals to be here at the end of fifty years.
We have had a troublesome experience with the African
races, and we ought not to risk any repetition of this
trouble with the Asiatic races . It may be noted that the
exclusion of Orientals from Australia, New Zealand andCanada is much more rigid than from the United States.
NUMERICAL LIMITATION BILL 51
The League's bill should not be associated with the
Gulick bill. They are entirely different propositions.
I. The time to adopt adequate measures of restric-
tion is now.
The war acted for several years as the strongest kind
of a check upon all immigration. The best expert opin-
ion is that immigration will increase very rapidly from
now on. For some years to come, work of reconstruc-
tion may tend to keep at home the better sorts of work-
ingmen in Northwestern Europe. On the other hand,
the disturbed political conditions in Eastern Europe,
and the destruction of many homes, will tend to uproot
many families and make them more ready to try life
on another continent. The steamship companies, whoknow that immigrants are the most profitable cargo they
can carry, will be eager to turn this feeling of unsettle-
ment to their profit by inducing as many as possible to
come hither. Those having the least stake in their owncountry, and those not likely to have a large interest
in any country are the easiest to persuade.
We should therefore be prepared for a largely in-
creased immigration, probably of a lower grade than
heretofore; and should adopt adequate legislation now,
before the rush begins.
Issued by the Immigration Restriction League, ii Pemberton Sq.,
Boston, Mass.
EUGENICS, ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION'
The word "Eugenics" has appeared in periodical
literature only within the last ten years, chiefly through
the writings of Sir Francis Galton and of Karl Pearson,
professor of mathematics in the University of London.
The thing itself is, indeed, not new. The effort to im-
prove the breeds of men has been expressed in manyways from early times. Not to mention the exposure of
weakling children by the various races, restrictions on
marriage of one kind or another have been imposed by
almost all peoples.
Since Christianity and civilization have emphasized
the worth of the individual, the voluntary elimination of
the unfit has been limited to the execution of offenders
against political or religious laws, and the forced segre-
gation of certain other classes, like paupers, insane
persons, idiots and lepers.
The attempt to improve race stocks in recent times
has, therefore, taken the form, not of killing off the less
fit, but of preventing their coming into the State, either
by being born into it or by migration. Eugenics in-
cludes, not only the prevention of unfit, but the con-
scious attempt to produce the more fit ; indeed, it is in
the latter sense that the word is most often used.
Strictly speaking, however, it must include all attempts
to improve the physical equipment of the individual in
so far as he acquires it by heredity.
The recent emphasis upon eugenics is a direct out-
' Publications of the Immigration Restriction League No. 51.
52
EUGENICS, ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION 53
come of modern science. On the one hand, Darwin andhis followers have shown us the methods and the possi-
bilities ofI
the production of new species of plants andanimals. This knowledge has been applied, in countless
ways,—to improve breeds of sheep and cattle, to de-
velop race horses, to create new and improved kindsof grains, grasses and fruits. The marvellous work of
Luther Burbank and others has opened our eyes to
what can be done along these lines. So much has beendone, indeed, that it would not be too much to say that
artificial selection has been applied to almost every liv-
ing thing with which man has close relations except
man himself; and people are now asking why the breed-
ing of the most important animal of all should, alone, be
left to chance.
On the other hand, the weakening of theological dog-
ma, resulting from the spread of science, has turned
men's gaze in large part from the next world to this.
The centre of effort has in large part been shifted from
preparing for death to enlarging life, from cultivating
holiness to producing wholeness. Comte, Herbert
Spencer, in fact nearly all modem philosophers, have
laid emphasis on making this world better, without
reference to what may happen in any other world. Theculmination of this movement is found in such men as
Nietzsche, Bernard Shaw and President Roosevelt.
The Christ ideal is no longer one of religious contempla-
tion, but of human perfection; the superman, working
in a strenuous life to produce a better world here and
now, is the one who attracts the admiration of mento-day.
Science has aided this movement in another way by
showing that, in the last century, too much emphasis
was laid upon environment and too little upon heredity.
Education, environment, can develop and modify;
54 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
they cannot create. Modem biology shows how differ-
ent organisms react upon the same environment; and
that, by selecting individuals who react in certain ways,
more can be accomplished than by merely changing
environment of the total number.
And thus it has come about that at last men are ask-
ing how the advent of the superman can be hastened,
and are beginning to discuss the application of artificial
breeding and selection to mankind itself. Nietzsche's
definition of marriage, as the union of two with the
object of producing beings higher than themselves, is
beginning to be seriously considered.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Europe
attempted to improve its race stocks by the exportation
of the less desirable individuals. Each country had its
penal colonies, and in addition used the United States
as a dumping ground for its convicts, paupers and in-
sane. The immigration laws of the United States, which
purport to exclude some twenty-one classes of mentally,
physically, morally and economically undesirable per-
sons, were originally intended to protect the country
from the dumping process above described. But, inas-
much as they operate equally in the cases of assisted andof normal immigration, they really go further than this;
and, so far as they are enforced, tend to eugenic results
by selecting the better classes of aliens for the fathers
and mothers of future citizens.
Within the United States, in addition to the usual
segregation of criminals and insane, we hear from timeto time suggestions as to sterilizing certain classes of the
unfit or regulating the marriage of those afflicted withhereditary diseases. Until public opinion has beenmuch more educated in this matter, however, little is
likely to be done on these lines. The clause of the Con-stitution of the United States forbidding "cruel and
EUGENICS, ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION 55
unusual punishments" is likely to stand in the way of
measures of sterilization like those enacted in Indiana;
and it may be questioned whether marriage regulations
will have any effect other than to increase illegitimacy,
except among the more intelligent and public spirited,
who would probably act in the same way without legis-
lation. Marriage regulations in Europe, as applied to
men in the army, have never been very successful ; andin Bavaria, for example, worked such harm that they
had to be modified.
One of the chief troubles with the extension of eugenic
ideals is the fact above mentioned that the very people
who most need them are the last to be influenced bythem. Thus, according to Professor Pearson, more than
one half the births in Great Britain occur among less
than one sixth of the population, and the latter are
composed of the less intelligent portion of the commu-nity; and not only less intelligent, but less developed
physically. It is on account of this last fact that wehear so much now about the physical deterioration of
the British people, as shown in the examination of
recruits for the army. Nature abhors extremes, and
weeds out both the laggards and the pioneers.
This tendency of the less intelligent to multiply more
rapidly becomes doubly important in a country where,
in some years, immigration ranges from one to one and
one quarter per cent of the poptilation, ' and is chiefly
made up of the working classes. Admitting, for the
sake of argument, that a mixture of race stocks may be
desirable, it is apparent that the individuals who are to
be the progenitors of the mixed stock should, at least,
be as good, mentally and physically, as the average of
It is true that the "net addition to population" by immigration, in
any year, is less than this; but returning aliens may leave children behind
them, and, in any case, exert a profound influence on the community.
56 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
those already here, if there is not to be a gradual de-
generation of our people.
PRESENT LAWS NOT SUFFICIENT
The fact is, that our immigration laws, as at present
administered, do not screen out the unfit so as to pre-
serve the status quo, to say nothing of promoting eugenic
improvement. Dr. Darlington of the New York City
Board of Health has pointed out ' that over 80 per cent
of the aliens certified by the examining surgeons as
being of poor physique or as having some physical
abnormality were landed recently at Ellis Island. Ac-
cording to the Surgeon-General, 3774 aliens were certi-
fied at Ellis Island from July i to December 31, 1907,
as having physical disabilities affecting their capacity
for self-maintenance ; and, during the same period, 3073of such aliens were admitted. Of 4846 certified during
the year 1904, or remaining over from the previous year,
3478 were landed.
The result of this laxness is shown in the further facts
cited by Dr. Darlington, that the 40 per cent of foreign-
born school children in New York City furnished, in
1906, over 70 per cent of the defectives in the schools;
while in 1902 a foreign-born population of New YorkCity, constituting a little over one third of the total
population of New York City, furnished 89 per cent of
the deaths from tuberculosis, and, in 1904, 60 per cent
of the insane patients.
It further appears that the races which have recently
begun to come to us, some of which are coming in large
numbers, are those which have the largest proportion of
serious physical defects. Thus, in 1901, the proportions
' North American Review, vol, 183, p. 1262 (Dec. 21, 1936).
EUGENICS, ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION 57
of defectives to the totals landed, according to Dr.
McLaughlin, ' were as follows for certain races :
—
Syrian i in 29.
Hebrew i in 42.
Magyar i in 148.
Finn i in 163.
ItaUan i in 172.
Slav I in 664.
Lithuanian i in 1906.
Hebrew immigration has for several years been the
second largest element in the total immigration.
The census of 1900 shows that, roughly speaking, the
foreign-born furnish one and one-fifth times their pro-
portion of criminals, one and one-half times their
proportion of juvenile offenders, nearly twice their pro-
portion of insane, and nearly three times their propor-
tion of paupers.
If we had proper immigration laws properly enforced,
most of those who are or become defectives and depend-
ents would never be admitted, and we should be pro-
tected, not merely from the burden of them, but from
what George William Curtis called that "watering of the
nation's life-blood" which is the result of their breeding
after admission.
After great efforts, a new class of excluded persons was
added to the immigration law in 1907, consisting of
persons "who are found to be and are certified by the
examining surgeon as being mentally or physically de-
fective, such mental or physical defect being of a nature
which may affect the ability of such alien to earn a liv-
ing." It was further provided that there should be no
appeal from the decision of boards of special inquiry
Popular Science Monthly, vol. 62, p. 407.
58 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
excluding such aliens. This was intended to be a purely
physical test ; in practice, however, it has been made an
economic test. It is held by some of the officials that
the defect must interfere with any particular occupation
which the alien states he intends to pursue; that the
function of the surgeon is merely advisory; and that the
question whether the decision of a board of special
inquiry was, in any case, based on the medical certifi-
cate, can be reviewed by the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor. As a result of these refinements, the'
' poor
physique" clause has become a dead letter, and the pro-
tection, which it was intended to furnish to the public
health, has been done away with.
Admitting that immigration is to be regulated at all,
there seems to be no reason why the same care should
not be exercised in admitting human beings that is nowexercised in relation to animals, insect pests and disease
germs. The admission of undesirable individuals does
not necessarily improve the world as a whole. There are
as many English sparrows in England as there were
before they were imported to become a nuisance in this
country.
The opponents of regulation of immigration have
largely relied upon the doctrine that free competition of
individuals will result in the'
' survival of the fittest " bynatural selection. This belief is based upon a misun-
derstanding of the expression "survival of the fittest."
This really means the survival of those most fitted for
survival, and not necessarily those most fitted for anyother purpose. As Dr. Pearson has pointed out, ^ this
practically means the survival of the most fertile. Thepoor drunkard in the slums who has, perhaps, ten chil-
dren survives five times as much as the college president
with two, but no one would think of claiming that the" "National Life from the Standpoint of Science."
EUGENICS, ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION 59
ten are as valuable as the two. Formerly, the ten, or
most of them, would have been eliminated by disease,
and only the strongest would have survived. To-day,
owing to modern sanitation, they all live, though often
handicapped in the struggle for existence.
A variation of this argimient usually takes the formof pointing out some dramatic single instance, where a
child of the slums or one immigrating from some Euro-
pean ghetto, has risen to distinguished rank and done
valuable service to the community. In view of the
recent work of Hugo de Vries, Biurbank and others, it
cannot be denied that spontaneous variation does pro-
duce occasional "sports" very different from the parent
stock. But, although we cannot predict that X, a child
of A, will be of type A, any more than we can predict the
date of his death, we can be absolutely certain what a
class X of children of persons of type A will be, just as
we can certainly predict the average life of that class;
and we can also predict that the more valuable class A,
the more valuable will be class X.
On account of the tendency, discussed above, for
those. classes of the community which have a lower
physical and mental development to breed more rapidly,
we must consider classes and not individuals. Wars and
pestilences no longer eliminate the unfit as formerly,
and what harm can be done by the breeding of a single
pair of undesirables has been shown by the history of
the Jukes family in New York State. That heredity
counts for more than environment is shown by the im-
portance attached to the former, as compared with
the latter, by the insurance companies. According to
Galton, the individual inherits in some degree from
everyone of his ancestors, but in inverse geometrical
proportion to their remoteness. If, therefore, we have
a class of immigrants mentally and physically defective,
6o IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
we can be mathematically certain that the children of
that class will contain a preponderating amount of
degeneracy, no matter what the environment. AsProfessor Pearson says: "You cannot change the leop-
ard's spots, and you cannot change bad stock to good;
you may dilute it, possibly spread it over a wide area,
spoiling good stock, but until it ceases to multiply it
will not cease to be."
The United States, from its geographical position,
has an opportunity to perpetuate its unique advantage
in having been founded and developed by a picked class
of immigrants. Only recently has the greed of transpor-
tation companies brought to our shores a selection, not
of the best, but often of the worst elements of Europeanand Asiatic populations. Pending the development of
further eugenic ideals, the least we can do is to see that
the best specimens of each race are chosen for the
parents of our future citizens.
THE ETHICS OF IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION
In an address before the Economic Club of Boston,
President Eliot, of Harvard University, once took for
his text the proposition that restriction of immigration
was not a'
'generous thought.
'
' As this phrase sums upthe objection felt by a number of public-spirited persons
to any rigorous regulation of immigration, it deserves
careful consideration. At the first, the term "free im-migration' ' has an attractive sound. Freedom has beenthe watchword of democracy, of anti-slavery, of relig-
ious liberty. It was the war cry of that school of eco-
nomics which was dominant until recent years, andfound expression in the doctrine of laissezfaire. In po-
litical life, liberty meant until recently the minimum of
control necessary to secure equal opportunity.
EUGENICS, ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION 6i
The chief difference between the viewpoint of the
nineteenth century and that of the twentieth will be
found, I think, in the more positive and constructive
attitude of the latter. We have begun to realize the
control of man over nature, and to see that the highest
results come from collective effort consciously directed
to an end. We have seen, for example, both in biology
and in history that individuals with traits of the highest
value may disappear before the onslaughts of lower
tsrpes which in one way or another are better fitted to
perpetuate themselves.
Do we, therefore, say that such is the Divine purpose,
and acquiesce in the result ? Not at all. We say there is
no ground for supposing that the Divine purpose does
not intend to work as much through man's reason as
through the forces of nature ; and we set about interfer-
ing with natural selection in almost every department
of life. We not only weed out the tares and thistles to
plant wheat and figs, but Mr. Burbank and others
create .better kinds of wheat and figs and they supplant
what we had before. The race horse and the seedless
orange are triimiphs of man's brain applied to artificial
selection. In human affairs we find that we must go
far beyond the doctrine of equal opportunity, and bycompulsory education, pure food laws and countless
other regulations, protect the people from harm and
raise them to a higher type. We even lie awake nights
devising how to get better men into oiu- municipal
offices, utterly regardless of the question whether the
average citizen wishes better government or not; and,
when the bad citizen gets too bad, we sometimes inter-
fere with his natural activity by putting him in jail.
Now, all these considerations have a direct bearing
upon the question of immigration regulation, for the
migration of peoples is one of the matters in which con-
62 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
scious human agency may produce the greatest results,
by the selection of the future races.
Restriction of immigration can be justified from two
points of view. The first point of view is, that any
political unit has the right to exclude whatever will not
help it to a higher development than it now has. Prob-
ably the world is not yet ready for eugenic ideals such as
Messrs. Pearson and Galton are preaching in England,
whether they be by regulation of marriage or by preserv-
ing the purity of certain races. So let us pass to the
second point of view.
This is, that any political unit has the right to protect
itself from the invasion of anything tending to retard its
normal life and development, whether it be noxious
weeds or animals, germs of infectious disease, immoral
books, immoral people, criminals, or persons whose
presence tends to lower the average of intelligence,
political capacity, or mental and physical health.
This right has never been questioned legally; it is an
inherent attribute of sovereignty. It rests on the prop-
osition that a political and social community is the
creation and property of those who have established
and developed it, and that they have the right to say
who shall be admitted into its life. The nation is larger,
but not unlike the state, the city, the church, the club,
the family. In these smaller units the right to regulate
admission is unquestioned. The college, of which the
president above referred to is the distinguished head, is
by no means indifferent to educational tests for admis-
sion to its privileges.
But the right of the nation to exclude individuals maybe questioned upon moral grounds just because it is
larger than the other units we have mentioned. Thesurface of the earth is limited in extent; and while in
most parts of Europe the birth rate is falling, in Asia
EUGENICS, ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION 63
and Africa it is probably rising, and in all parts the
death rate is diminishing. What, it will be asked, are
these teeming multitudes to do if they overcrowd their
native territory?
This problem suggests two preliminary practical con-
siderations. One is that most nations do not restrict
immigration to any extent, so that if the United States
were to impose additional restrictions, most of the re-
maining countries would still be open. Another is,
that free immigration, in many if not in all cases, results
in an absolute increase in population in the country
from which it takes place, so that the problem is not
solved but renewed. There are ten times as manyEnglishmen in England as at the time of the first English
emigration. Unless we admit the right of any humantype, no matter how low, not only to move about the
earth's surface but to propagate indefinitely at will, wemust consider what types it is desirable to have popu-
late the now unsettled portions of the world. There
might be no fewer Hindus in Asia after a few years if
one himdred millions out of the eight hundred millions
now there were to come to America ; but the effect on
America would be profound and permanent, while the
effect on India would be slight and temporary.
Now, if the facts show, as I believe they do, that a
considerable proportion of the immigrants coming to-
day are below the average of our citizenship, mentally,
morally and physically, and if they have tended to lower
that average, why is it imgenerous to say, "You shall
not come faster than we can lift you to our level or
higher, and those of you who are very far below our
level shall not come until they fit themselves for our
conditions." Observe the question which the college
president raises is not one of fact but of the moral
law. He proclaims that restriction of immigration is
64 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
ungenerous no matter what the quality of that immi-
gration is.
Now if a thing is ungenerous, it must be because it is
ungenerous toward somebody. Restriction of immigra-
tion, under the assumed state of facts, is certainly not
ungenerous to the native-bom in the United States, nor
to the foreign-bom already here. Is it ungenerous to
the intending immigrants, who may soon number two
millions a year ? That must be considered in connection
, with the effect of exclusion upon all the population of the
other countries. If the standard of civilization and
progress which the United States stands for were low-
ered, either by thinning the life blood of the people or by
supplanting the existing races by others whose ideals
are different, the damage to the rest of the world might
be enough to much more than offset the benefit to the
individuals admitted. For nations, like individuals,
progress by emulation and imitation, and if there is
nothing of value to imitate, such progress becomes
delayed.
Just at this point I seem to hear something said of the
colossal Teutonic conceit which thinks its race better
than others. I frankly accept the challenge. I do be-
lieve that in recent centuries, the Teutonic stock has
been the finest in the world. The Iberic had its day ; but
compare the history of the Spanish-American republics
for three hundred years with that of England, Germany,Scandinavia and the United States. If our country hadbeen settled by Galicians, Croatians, Sicilians or Greeks,
can anyone suppose that our institutions and achieve'
ments would have been what they have or that
the movement toward political and religious liberty
throughout all the world would have been the same?Besides the advantage of continuing the higher prog-
ress of an advancing nation for its service to the world.
EUGENICS, ETHICS AND IMMIGRATION 65
there are certain benefits of restriction of emigration
which are often overlooked. Emigration has been used
as a safety valve by the governments of Europe to
enable them to continue despotic rule, burdensome taxa-
tion, indifference to educational and industrial advance.
It is probable that certain European countries would be
further ahead today if the pressure of population and
poverty had been present to force their rulers to more
enlightened policies. A few years ago the mere rumor
that the United States would adopt an educational test
for immigrants sufficed to cause the Italian Minister of
Education to take steps to enforce the primary educa-
tion law, previously a dead letter in many parts of
Italy.
And it must be remembered that there are manykinds of intending immigrants. By excluding the less
fit, we make room for the more fit, who would otherwise
be unable to come. The great recent influx of South
Italians and Slavs has had a perceptible effect in check-
ing immigration from Northern and Western Europe.
Restriction is, indeed, not a condition of our making.
It is a result of the fact that even the largest country
has only a certain amoimt of employment to offer at
any given time. The admission of the less desirable
means the exclusion of the better class. To which of the
two does the future more justly belong? Then, again,
in so far as immigration lowers the standards of things
in this country, it injures the prospects of aU future
immigrants. We who are living today are trustees of
what has been accomplished, not merely for otu- own
people, but for all who may inhabit this country in the
future. The trouble with the college president's view
is that it contemplates using the principal of trust funds
for temporary almsgiving, and presently there will be no
funds to take care of future deserving cases. For it
66 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
must never be forgotten that assimilation works both
ways; that immigrants are assimilating us, and if too
numerous and too alien they destroy our power of lift-
ing them, just as a strong man may be made feeble bythe smallest germs.
To sum up, the open hand may not be the most gen-
erous attitude, either toward our foreign-born citizens,
toward present immigrants, toward future immigrants,
or toward the world at large. In the words of Phillips
Brooks: "If the world, in the great march of centuries,
is going to be richer for the development of a certain
national character, built up by a larger type of manhoodhere, then for the world's sake, for the sake of every
nation that would potu- in upon it that which woulddisturb that development, we have a right to stand
guard over it."
For publications and membership in the ImmigrationRestriction League, address the Secretary, loi TremontStreet, Boston, Mass. The dues for membership are as
follows : For annual membership, one dollar, payable
in advance upon admission and upon January ist of eachyear; for life membership, ten dollars, payable uponadmission, life members being exempt from anntial
dues.
The League is a strictly non-partisan and non-sectarian
organization, with members from all parts of the UnitedStates. It advocates a more careful selection of immigra-tion, but not the exclusion of any immigrants whosecharacter and standards fit them to become citizens.
IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION AND WORLDEUGENICS'
There is one aspect of immigration restriction in the
various countries which does not often receive muchattention, namely, the possibility of its use as a methodof world eugenics. Most persons think of migration in
terms of space,—as the moving of a certain number of
people from one part of the earth's surface to another.
Whereas the much more important aspect of it is that
of a functioning in time.
This comes from two facts. The first is that the
vacuum left in any country by emigration is rapidly
filled up through a rise in the birth rate. There are
more people in England today than in the time of Eliza-
beth, in spite of the enormous emigration from that
country to all parts of the world ; and there are just as
many sparrows in England today, in spite of the unfor-
tunate spread of those birds in the United States. Thevacuum is chiefly filled by the breeding of the lower
classes. Thus, according to Professor Pearson, more
than one half the births in England are now from the
lowest one sixth of the population. In Italy, a similar
condition fills the vacuum left by the very large emigra-
tion from there to North and South America.
The second fact is that immigration to any country of
' Publications of the Immigration Restriction League, No. 71.
(Reprinted from the Journal of Heredity (Organ of the American
Genetic Association), Vol. X, No. 3, Washington, D. C, March, 1919.)
67
68 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
a given stratum of population tends to sterilize all strata
of higher social and economic levels already in that
country. So true is this that nearly aU students of the
matter are agreed that the United States would have a
larger population today if there had been no immigra-
tion since 1820, and, it is needless to add, a much more
homogeneous population. As long as the people of any
community are relatively homogeneous, what differ-
ences of wealth and social position there may be do not
affect the birth rate, or do so only after a considerable
time. But put into that community a number of im-
migrants, inferior mentally, socially, and economically,
and the natives are unwilling to have their children
associate with them in work or social life. They then
limit the number of their children in order to give themthe capital or education to enter occupations in which
they will not be brought into contact with the newarrivals. This result is quite apparent in New England,
where successive waves of immigration from lower and
lower levels have been coming in for eighty years. In
the West, the same New England stock has a muchhigher birth rate, showing that its fertility has in no waydiminished. In the South, where until very recently
there was no immigration at all, and the only socially
inferior race was clearly separated by the accident of
color, the birth rate has remained very high, and the
very large families of the colonial period are even nownot uncommon.
This is not to say that other causes do not contribute
to lower the birth rate of a country, for that is an almost
world-wide phenomenon. But the desire to be sepa-
rated from inferiors is as strong a motive to birth control
as the desire for luxury or to ape one's economic supe-
riors. Races foUow Gresham's law as to money; the
poorer of two kinds in the same place tends to supplant
IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION 69
the better. Mark you, supplant, not drive out. Oneof the most common fallacies is the idea that the na-
tives whose places are taken by lower immigration are'
'driven up" to more responsible positions. A few maybe pushed up; more are driven to a new locality, as
happened in the mining regions ; but most are prevented
from coming into existence at all.
"What is the result, then, of the migration of a million
persons of lower level into a country where the average
is of a higher level? Considering the world as a whole,
there are, after a few years, two million persons of the
lower type in the world, and probably from half a mil-
lion to a million less of the higher type. The proportion
of lower to higher in the country from which the migra-
tion goes may remain the same; but in the country
receiving it, it has risen. Is the world as a whole the
gainer?
Of course, the euthenist says at once that these im-
migrants are improved. We may grant that, although
the improvement is probably much exaggerated. Youcannot make bad stock into good by changing its me-ridian, any more than you can turn a cart horse into a
hunter by putting it into a fine stable, or make a mon-grel into a fine dog by teaching it tricks. But such im-
provement as there is involves time, expense, and
trouble ; and, when it is done, has anything been gained ?
Will any one say that the races that have supplanted the
old Nordic stock in New England are any better, or as
good, as the descendants of that stock would have been
if their birth rate had not been lowered ?
Further, in addition to the purely biological aspects of
the matter, there are certain psychological ones. Al-
though a cosmopolitan atmosphere furnishes a certain
freedom in which strong congenital talents can develop,
it is a question whether as many are not injured as
70 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
helped by this. Indeed, there is considerable evidence
to show that for the production of great men, a certain
homogeneity of environment is necessary. The reason
of this is very simple. In a homogeneous community,
opinions on a large number of matters are fixed. Theindividual does not have to attend to such things, but is
free to go ahead on some special line of his own, to con-
centrate to his limit on his work, even though that work
be fighting the common opinions. But in a community
of many races, there is either cross-breeding or there is
not. If there is, the children of such cross-breeding are
liable to inherit two souls, two temperaments, two sets
of opinions, with the result in many cases that they are
unable to think or act strongly and consistently in anydirection. The classic examples are Cuba, Mexico andBrazil. On the other hand, if there is no cross-breeding,
the diversity exists in the original races, and in a com-munity full of diverse ideals of all kinds much of the
energy of the higher type of man is dissipated, and in
two ways. First, in the intellectual field there is muchmore doubt about everything, and he tends to weigh,
discuss, and agitate many more subjects, in order to
arrive at a conclusion amid the opposing views. Second,
in practical affairs, much time and strength have to bedevoted to keeping things going along the old lines,
which could have been spent in new research and de-
velopment. In how many of our large cities today are
men of the highest type spending their whole timefighting, often in vain, to maintain standards of honesty,
decency, and order, and in trying to compose the variousethnic elements, who should be free to build new struc-
tures upon the old
!
The moral seems to be this : Eugenics among individ-
uals is encouraging the propagation of the fit, and limit-
ing or preventing the multiplication of the unfit. World
IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION 71
eugenics is doing precisely the same thing as to races
considered as wholes. Immigration restriction is a
species of segregation on a large scale, by which infe-
rior stocks can be prevented from both diluting and sup-
planting good stocks. Just as we isolate bacterial in-
vasions, and starve out the bacteria by limiting the area
and amount of their food supply, so we can compel an
inferior race to remain in its native habitat, where its
own multiplication in a limited area wiU, as with all
organisms, eventually limit its numbers and therefore
its influence. On the other hand, the superior races,
more self-limiting than the others, with the benefits of
more space and nourishment will tend to still higher
levels.
This result is not merely a selfish benefit to the higher
races, but a good to the world as a whole. The object
is to produce the greatest number of those fittest not'' for survival
'
' merely, but fittest for all purposes. The
lower types among men progress, so far as their racial
inheritance allows them to, chiefly by imitation and
emulation. The presence of the highest development
and the highest institutions among any race is a distinct
benefit to all the others. It is a gift of psychological
environment to any one capable of appreciation.
It is important, therefore, that nothing in the con-
stitution of the League of Nations should limit the right
of any nation to decide who shall be admitted into its
life; for, as Le Bon says, a preponderance of foreign
elements destroys the most precious thing it possesses
—^its own soul.
ARISTOCRACY AND POLITICS'
Mr. Alleyne Ireland's article'
'A Biological View of
Politics," in the December number of the Journal, states
a view with which many serious students are in sym-
pathy, but which few have the courage to state. I say
"courage" because the opposite view is so universal in
popular discussion that it seems to be crying in the
wilderness to preach against it.
The widespread and fatuous belief in universal
suffrage and in what Goncourt called the "barbarism of
number" is largely due, I think, to the increasing pre-
valence of a new psychological type. For lack of a
better term I have coined the word "expansile" to
designate it. Just as we have "motiles," "audiles" and
"visuels," depending upon which sense is most active,
so we have "expansiles," whose characteristic is that
they are the victims of any idea which is broader or more
inclusive quantitatively than some other. What bodily
variation is correlated with this is not clear ; but it maybe a symbol, in the psycho-analytic sense, of claustro-
phobia, and may signify a reaction from the increasing
urban life. The expansile tendency is especially markedin the desire for "equality" of any kind, this being a
species of inclusiveness. In fact, in some persons, the
lust for equality becomes a form of paranoia. Thus, if
the discussion is of suffrage, everyone shotild have a
• Reprinted from the Journal of Heredity (Organ of the AmericanGenetic Association), vol. x., No. 4, Washington, D. C, April, 1919.
72
ARISTOCRACY AND POLITICS 73
vote; if of wages, everyone should have an equal wage;
if of education, everyone should have an equal oppor-
tunity. The idea of proportional opportunity, by which
those most gifted should have the best chance, is ob-
noxious to the expansile. The kind of thing often ex-
pressed in the phrase "brotherhood of man" implies the
maximum of expansion and equality; although logically
altruism is perfectly consistent with inequality.
The most disastrous example of false reasoning under
the influence of the expansile tendency was provided
by the French Revolution. It is well known that cer-
tain Masonic societies had a good deal to do with this
event, notably the Grand Orient o£ France, and the
PhUathetes of Paris organized by Cagliostro. The false
reasoning consisted in assuming that certain principles
of equality, which had worked very well among the
picked and chosen members of the lodges, could be
extended at a stroke to the whole population of France.
The writers of our Declaration of Independence andConstitution, being Masons, adopted the language of
these principles when this country started on its sepa-
rate existence. Fortimately, the population of the
United States at that time consisted of picked specimens
of the Nordic race, selected by the perils of voyaging
hither and of exploiting a new country. These people
had sense enough to entrust the management of their
affairs to the most capable among them; so that, for
some sixty or seventy years the government, although
democratic in form, was aristocratic in fact. At the
present time this is no longer true. Respect for intelli-
gence and ability have so far disappeared that it is
almost impossible for a strong and able man of inde-
pendent views to be elected to high office. To get into
office, a man must now play the demagogue.
The result is a lowering both of ideals and of execu-
ARISTOCRACY AND POLITICS'
Mr. Alleyne Ireland's article "A Biological View of
Politics," in the December number of the Journal, states
a view with which many serious students are in syva.-
pathy, but which few have the courage to state. I say
"courage" because the opposite view is so universal in
poptilar discussion that it seems to be crying in the
wilderness to preach against it.
The widespread and fatuous belief in universal
suffrage and in what Goncourt called the "barbarism of
number" is largely due, I think, to the increasing pre-
valence of a new psychological type. For lack of a
better term I have coined the word "expansile" to
designate it. Just as we have "motiles," "audiles" and
"visuels," depending upon which sense is most active,
so we have "expansiles," whose characteristic is that
they are the victims of any idea which is broader or more
inclusive quantitatively than some other. What bodily
variation is correlated with this is not clear; but it maybe a symbol, in the psycho-analytic sense, of claustro-
phobia, and may signify a reaction from the increasing
urban life. The expansile tendency is especially marked
in the desire for "equality" of any kind, this being a
species of inclusiveness. In fact, in some persons, the
lust for equality becomes a form of paranoia. Thus, if
the discussion is of suffrage, everyone should have a
' Reprinted from the Journal of Heredity (Organ of the American
Genetic Association), vol. x., No. 4, Washington, D. C, April, 1919.
72
ARISTOCRACY AND POLITICS 73
vote; if of wages, everyone should have an equal wage;
if of education, everyone should have an equal oppor-
tunity. The idea of proportional opportunity, by which
those most gifted should have the best chance, is ob-
noxious to the expansile. The kind of thing often ex-
pressed in the phrase "brotherhood of man" implies the
maximum of expansion and equality; although logically
altruism is perfectly consistent with inequality.
The most disastrous example of false reasoning tmder
the influence of the expansile tendency was provided
by the French Revolution. It is well known that cer-
tain Masonic societies had a good deal to do with this
event, notably the Grand Orient of France, and the
Philath^tes of Paris organized by Cagliostro. The false
reasoning consisted in assuming that certain principles
of equality, which had worked very well among the
picked and chosen members of the lodges, could be
extended at a stroke to the whole population of France.
The writers of our Declaration of Independence and
Constitution, being Masons, adopted the language of
these principles when this country started on its sepa-
rate existence. Fortimately, the population of the
United States at that time consisted of picked specimens
of the Nordic race, selected by the perils of voyaging
hither and of exploiting a new country. These people
had sense enough to entrust the management of their
affairs to the most capable among them; so that, for
some sixty or seventy years the government, although
democratic in form, was aristocratic in fact. At the
present time this is no longer true. Respect for intelli-
gence and ability have so far disappeared that it is
almost impossible for a strong and able man of inde-
pendent views to be elected to high office. To get into
office, a man must now play the demagogue.
The result is a lowering both of ideals and of execu-
76 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
in many cases; so that I am not now contending for
special power based solely on ancestry.
But even where the better sort ofmen have the leader-
ship, they are often subject to the temptation to weaken
it for the benefit of a temporary advantage. Nearly
every extension of the suffrage has been the result of a
bargain in which some party in power has traded the
public good for the adherence of some faction hitherto
denied the ballot, and usually in the name of progress
and reform. Ludovici has pointed out the deterioration
in the British House of Lords through the successive
creations of life peers, mostly made to tide over some
political crisis; and that the addition of men unused to
legislation, even though able in other lines, weakened
the average capacity of the House. The same thing can
be said of the broadening of the electorate itself. Andyet the recent abolition of plural voting in Belgium has
been hailed as a step on the road to the New Jerusalem
!
In this country, so far as I am aware, there have been
only three cases where the suffrage has been changed
from a broader to a narrower basis. In early Massa-
chusetts, it was limited by a vote of all the colonists to
chtirch members and property owners; in New Jersey,
woman suffrage was abolished early in the nineteenth
century; and in Rhode Island, the property-owning
qualification of $75 was recently raised to $300.
In my opinion, we never shall have good governmentuntil the suffrage is limited to those having a certain
education, or paying a certain tax; perhaps also allow-
ing those to vote who are willing to pay a fee for theprivilege. We never shall have good financial manage-ment in cities where, as in Boston, 118,000 non-tax-
payers spend the money of 18,000 tax-payers. For,
taking things on the average, as we always have to do in
sociological questions, the Hability to a tax implies a
ARISTOCRACY AND POLITICS 77
certain measure of success and ability. That is whythe Bolshevist, who is a mentally and nervously irrit-
able person, filled with hate in the form of envy, is so
against property as an institution.
Limitation of the suffrage may seem impossible of
accompUshment in these times, when we are seeking the
smallest possible political unit, even as we try to split
up the atoms of physical matter; and yet, if everyone
would speak out who desires it, the achievement might
not be so remote. Perhaps the most pregnant saying of
Goethe, which embodied a generalization from his wide
study of biology and other sciences, was that anything
to succeed must have " Beschraenkung"—limitation.
Goethe was not what I have called an expansile. Hewould doubtless have recognized that the chief danger
of the American people today is the tendency to follow
out logically abstract ideals without reference to the
concrete situation. This, as Le Bon has shown, is a
tendency indigenous to the Latin but not to the Nordic
spirit. We are developing it partly through the dilu-
tion of our national character by immigration, and
partly by hearkening to the catchwords of expansile
leaders and those who wallow in humanitarian
platitudes.
Therefore we should all be grateful to Mr. Ireland for
stating the case so clearly, and for his testimony to the
value of aristocracy, based on his long and thorough
study of various experiments in government.
IMMIGRATION AND THE WORLD WAR'
The World War verified at least two things about
immigration which had been previously asserted by
experts, but doubted or ignored by the public. The
latter knows very little about anthropology or the
history of various past migrations; and its opinions are
largely influenced by its local experience and by the
articles and news items in the newspapers, most of which
are inspired by various interests, and which give usually
a narrow and immediate rather than a long range point
of view.
The first point proved by the war was that the immi-
gration of a million aliens a year is not necessary to
sustain the industries of this country. During the war,
there was practically no immigration, and at the same
time millions of men were taken out of industry for the
army and navy. It is true that production in manylines was curtailed ; but in many others it was vastly
extended. It is also true that to attract workers to the
expanding trades money wages, and in some cases real
wages, were sharply advanced. But, in the long run,
high wages are a good thing for a country if a fair day's
work is given for them. If there had been a great gen-
eral shortage of labor as a result of the war there would
not even now be requests to the Division of Distribu-
tion of the Bureau of Immigration to stop sending
' Publications of the Immigration Restriction League, No. 76,
(Reprinted from The Annals of the American Academy of Political andSocial Science, Philadelphia, January, 1921. Publication No. 1473.)
78
IMMIGRATION AND THE WORLD WAR 79
aliens into various localities. Undoubtedly there was,
for a time, a shortage of workers in certain places andcertain industries. The newspaper reports of this were,
however, undoubtedly exaggerated. We must remem-ber that the ideal condition, from the point of view of
some employers of cheap labor, is to have two menwaiting for every job, in order to keep down wages.
Such a condition results in an immense amount of un-
employment and misery, and shows that labor which is
economically cheap for the employer is seldom socially
cheap for the community.
The second point demonstrated by the war, and the
most important one, was in regard to assimilation. Agreat deal of nonsense had been preached and swallowed
whole by the people, to the effect that environment is
all important and heredity of little account, in consider-
ing the effects of immigration. That falsest of all
shibboleths "the melting-pot" had hypnotized states-
men and legislators. That inversion of Darwin's real
teaching, which pronounced that survival indicated
fitness for things other than mere survival, had per-
meated the public mind and made it careless of current
changes and of the future.
Down to i860, as Eliot Norton pointed out in The
Annals,^ the United States had begun to develop a
definite national character based on well-known Nordic
traits. The colonial population had consisted of picked
specimens of Nordic races. The Irish immigration of
1846 contributed further Nordic strains; and, what is
important to observe, the German emigration of 1848
was also Nordic, whereas the more recent German immi-
grants are largely Alpine. Things having gone so well
down to i860, the policy of the "open door" became
fixed, in spite of the warnings of Washington, Jefferson,
» Vol. 24, p. 163 Quly, 1904).
8o IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
Adams, Madison and Franklin as to the danger of un-
guarded gates.
From i860 and especially after 1880, the whole situa-
tion changed. In 1914, nearly three-quarters of all alien
immigrants were Alpine, Mediterranean or Asiatic and
only one-quarter Nordic. In other words, 863 thousand
of those coming in that year were from races with a
different historic background, different customs and
different ideals. This change had been proceeding with
increasing intensity for forty years.
Now the temperamental optimist, the social worker
and the average citizen had insisted that in the newenvironment of America the alien rapidly changed into
a "good American." When the evidence did not en-
tirely bear this out, some said that although the alien
might be assimilating us instead of our assimilating
him, nevertheless this was a good thing, and that the
mixture of conflicting types was a benefit.
The World War completely knocked out these cheer-
ful conclusions by revealing that the superficial changes
constituting "Americanization" were entirely inade-
quate to affect the hereditary tendencies of generations
;
and that a mixture of conflicting t3rpes and opinions
seriously affected the capacity of the nation to think
and to act as a imit.
Take first the hostile attitude of many of the immi-
grants from the Central Powers. Probably a large
majority of those of German descent, especially of those
descended from Germans coming before 1870, were
loyal. But the term "German" as used in statistical
publications is quite ambiguous. Dr. W. S. Sadler has
pointed out' that in 1600 Germany was almost entirely
Nordic. Then, owing to the Thirty Years' War andother wars, the Nordic element was largely killed off
' Sadler, W. S. Long Heads and Round Heads.
IMMIGRATION AND THE WORLD WAR 8i
and its place taken by Slavic Alpines, so that in 1914,
Germany was 90 per cent Alpine and only 10 per cent
Nordic. This, in his opinion, accounts largely for thefact that the World War was fought on the German side
so much more lawlessly and cruelly than was the Warof 1870. The characteristics of the Nordic race are
individual initiative, love of personal liberty, and acertain chivalry and sportsmanship. The Alpine andMediterranean races on the other hand tend to cen-
tralization of authority, reliance upon the state, and in
war to subservience and absence of moral quality.
Another element, the Semitic, is largely international
or racial in its interests.
The resistance to the draft law, whether from coward-
ice, indifference or conscientious objection revealed the
difference in attitude between the earlier and the later
immigration, and this again showed that apparent
"Americanization " was built in many cases upon quick-
sand. The imanimous opinion of American and French
observers was to the effect that those American regi-
ments composed chiefly of Nordic stock or led by Nordic
officers were by far the most valuable.
It is estimated that at the present time from 40 to
55 per cent of our population are still Nordic. It is also
stated that at least ten million aliens of non-Nordic
races are anxious to come here at once. If this should be
kept up for the next twenty years, it is easy to see that
anywhere from twenty to forty millions or more of non-
Nordic races might come, utterly changing the balance
of race-stocks in this country. And, as ever3rthing
depends upon the people who are here to do things,
especially under universal suffrage, this would meanat the worst a profound change in our institutions and
ideals, and at the best an ineffectiveness bom of the
mixture of diverse elements.
82 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
And still we do not leam the lesson. We forget that
Egypt, Greece and Rome, as well as Chaldea, Phoenicia
and Carthage, perished from the peaceful invasion of
alien races. " Still we are led away from facing matters
squarely by the red herrings of distribution of aliens and
"Americanization." Neither distribution nor Ameri-
canization is possible while one or two millions of alien
t3T)es are being poured into the country. I do not say
that the aims and efforts of those engaged in the Ameri-
canization movement are wrong, but I maintain that
the energy of many good men and a vast amount of
money are being diverted from the only path by which
success can be attained. I have no doubt also that they
are encouraged by those who wish immigration left
practically tmrestricted. It has always been so in the
past. Any important change in habits of thought and
racial tendencies requires at least several generations.
As I have said elsewhere,^ "you can not make bad
stock into good by changing its meridian, any
more than you can turn a cart horse into a hunter
by putting it into a fine stable, or make a mongrel
into a fine dog by teaching it tricks." We must get
away from the one-dimension, sentimental point of
view that all men and all races are potentially equal,
and from the two-dimensional economic view which
considers man as merely a producing and a con-
suming animal, and face the truths of history and
anthropology.
How much has "Americanization" changed the
revolutionary communists in our large cities? Howmany more agitators are being allowed to come in to-
'See an excellent historical survey by Charles W. Gould, America, a
Family Matter (Scribners, 1920); see also, Alfred P. Schultz, Race or
Mongrel (Boston, 1908).
'Journal of Heredity, vol. x., No. 3, March, 1919.
IMMIGRATION AND THE WORLD WAR 83
day to make trouble in the future? They can not bedetected by ordinary methods of inspection.
While immigration was at a low ebb and patriotic
fervor was at its height during the war, there was asplendid chance to pass a stringent immigration law,
even over a probable veto. We did nothing, as usual.
It took twenty-six years to get the reading test into the
law, although it is the most valuable restrictive clause
we have. We are dallying with our future safety just
at the time when, as Lothrop Stoddard so clearly shows,
'
there is a probability that the brown and yellow races
of Asia will soon resume that western movement which
was checked for a time by Charlemagne. Bolshevism is
essentially such a movement of oriental Tartar tribes
led by Asiatic Semites against Nordic bourgeoisie.
Japan is arming. Before the war she was poor; now she
is rich. " The next big war may be in the Pacific. Toprepare for that, indeed merely to maintain our present
development, we need to become and to remain a strong,
self-reliant, united country, with the only unity that
counts, viz., that of race.
What, then, shall we do? Exclude the black, the
brown and the yellow altogether ; as to the white, favor
the immigration of Nordic and Nordicized stocks.
This will best be attained by limiting immigration from
any country annually to a certain per cent of those
from that country already naturalized here. ' Naturali-
zation, when not artificially fostered, is one of the best
tests of assimilability, and experience shows that it is
the Nordic races that become naturalized. The effect
' The Rising Tide of Color. (New York, Scribners, 1920.)
" See Thomas F. Millard, The New Par East, pp. 33-35; Our Eastern
Question, p. 217.
' This proposition is embodied in H. R. 10837 of the 66th Congress
and in §9 of H. R. 12320 introduced by the Chairman of the HouseCommittee on Immigration, Feb. 4, 1920.
84 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
in a year like 1914 under a 50 per cent limitation, would
have been as follows
:
Actually Admissible
Northern and Western Eurooe
THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OFIMMIGRATION'
The prediction of the best experts that, after the end-
ing of the World War, immigration to this covmtrywould again reach the high-water mark of a million a
year, which it made during the decade before the war,
seems almost certain to be fulfilled. Although the net
addition to population during the fiscal year 1920 wasonly about 193,000, the best testimony is to the effect
that the numbers likely to come in the next few years
will be limited only by the capacity of the steamships
to bring them; in other words that a million to a million
and a half will come annually.
The only influences likely to keep aliens at home are:
First, a revival of racial and national aspirations in the
newly created states of Europe; second, the amount of
reconstruction work in countries within the war zone;
third, the efforts of the various countries to keep their
citizens at home for military reasons, until the political
outlook is clearer; fourth, the adoption of prohibition
by this country. The increased cost of passports and
steerage rate has been shown already not to be an
influence deterring from emigration.
The influences in favor of migration are much more
potent than those above-mentioned. There has been a
tremendous uprooting of families and individuals all
through Europe. Persons who have once left their
^ North American Review {The) May, 1921.
85
86 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
homes, who perhaps have no homes to return to, are
very likely to seek to start life again in a new country,
although they might never have thought of it under
normal conditions. It remains to be seen whether the
League of Nations can be counted as a factor for war or
for peace ; and, until the outlook is clearer, the demandsof the various countries for military service are not
likely to diminish. Added to this is the frightful burden
of war taxation, sure to be continued for a long period.
If, by any chance, some disarmament agreement should
lessen the demand for military service, this would be
offset by the relaxation of regulations against migration
;
for European countries will know the great value of
colonies of their citizens in America who send home large
sums to their relatives in Europe.
We may be sure that the steamship companies will
seek to turn to their profit any unsettlement of mindamong the various peoples. For emigrants, who load
and unload themselves and their effects, and cost butlittle to feed during the voyage, are the most profitable
cargoes that can be carried. ' And the normal activities
in this direction are likely to be further stimulated bya large increase in merchant shipping, and of commerceespecially with the United States, resulting in keencompetition with temporarily lower rates. GreatBritain and this country will have an enormous tonnagefor commercial purposes, and Germany has already
taken steps to restore her merchant marine and to
compete for her former place in transportation. Neverhave the steamship companies been more active at
Washington than at present; and the fact that moreships are flying the American flag than before the warhelps the arguments of the transportation interests.
America is also sure to be better known and more talkedabout in Europe than ever before; and the comparative
IMMIGRATION—PRESENT AND FUTURE 87
scale of wages and comfort which we provided for our
soldiers will be an object lesson to reinforce the letters
of earlier immigrants here, and their remittances to
Europe on which whole districts have prospered.
For the past thirty years a large part of our annual
immigration has not been what might be called a normal
flow of population ; but has been artificially stimulated
in every way by the transportation companies. Al-
though there has been legislation both here and abroad
to check misrepresentation and fraud, there has been an
emigration propaganda carried on by thousands of
steamship agents reaching into the most remote hamlets
of Europe and Western Asia. The schoolmaster and
the parish priest have been agents to sell tickets on
commission; and much use has been made of former
emigrants returning home for a visit. Although, just
at the moment, no persuasion is needed to secure enough
immigrants to fill the ships, this sort of thing will be
resumed whenever necessary, and on a larger scale than
ever before.
In addition to the foregoing general considerations,
there are special conditions in several countries which
call for notice. What may happen in Russia no manknows; but it is pretty safe to say that at the present
moment a considerable part of the people of Russia
would like to be somewhere else. What was said above
as to the uprooting of home ties and the fear of future
disturbances will a fortiori apply to Russia for some
time to come. Mr. Schiff, who was as well informed as
anyone, expected three million Jews to come to this
country after the war. Russia contains more Jews than
any other European country, and most of those millions
will come from there. Others will come from Turkey
and the Balkan States. For the Zionist movement is
more sentimental and formal than practical; and Pales-
88 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
tine under any system of government, and with the
help of extensive irrigation works and industrial plants,
is yet incapable of supporting any large population.
The British Government took steps, even before the
war, to make India more self-governing. Lord Morley
started this movement; and, since his time in the India
office, much more has been done in the same direction.
If India becomes in fact a self-governing commonwealth,
this will tend to assimilate it in the pubhc mind to the
other commonwealths in the British Empire, and to
validate the idea of a similar treatment of its citizens.
At the present time, Hindus are, with few exceptions,
excluded from the United States under the geographical
limitations in the act of 191 7. They are likewise ex-
cluded from Australia under the law which requires an
immigrant to be able to read in any language prescribed
by the inspecting officials. From Canada they are
excluded by the indirect actions of two Orders in Coun-
cil. But now India has contributed most important aid
in protecting the Empire as a whole ; and may not this
fact change her status not only within but without the
British possessions?
Of more immediate interest is the Japanese situation.
Japanese of the laboring class are now theoretically
excluded from this country by an agreement with Japan,
made in 1907 and commonly referred to as the "Gentle-
men's Agreement." They are also excluded under the
law of 19 1 7 as being among those excluded at the time
of the passage of the law by an arrangement with a
foreign country, although the specific compact with
Japan was not mentioned in the law. Japanese laborers
exceeding five hundred in any year are also excludedfrom Canada, under an agreement with Japan. Here,again, the future of Russia creates uncertainty; and for
the following reason. Japan is not a democratic coun-
IMMIGRATION—PRESENT AND FUTURE 89
try. She is absolutely governed by the Genre, a bodyof not over seven men, choosing its own successors.
Neither the emperor nor the Parliament really counts.
These seven men make their plans for many years ahead.
Hitherto, the eyes of the governing body have been
fixed on two things: the commercial supremacy of the
Pacific, and the right to colonize in the Western hemi-
sphere. But to these has been added recently another
element,
—
a Monroe doctrine for Asia, of which Japanis to be the administrator, coupled with a free hand in
leading the awakening of the East. Now if she can
play the r61e which she aspires to in the peaceful pene-
tration and development of China, Mongolia, Man-churia and perhaps Siberia, her attention may be turned
in that direction for some time. Both England and the
United States gave her a free hand during the war,
partly in consideration of her services to the Allied
cause, partly from the necessities of the situation.
Before the war Japan was poor; now she is relatively
rich. But she has not put her money into redeeming
land for cultivation, although she is always complaining
of pressure of population. She has instead doubled her
army, and probably her navy. These things may assure
her freedom of action in Asia, if Russia should for a
long time be disorganized and helpless. On the other
hand, if Russia should be rehabilitated speedily, andEngland be free to interfere, Japanese ambitions on the
continent may be checked, and in that case she would
concentrate on the other two points of her policy. It
must be remembered also that at the present time there
is little inducement for Japanese laborers to settle in
Asia to compete with coolies who can live on two or
three cents a day. They would much rather come to
this country and underbid a wage of two or three dollars
a day. Japan acquired Formosa twenty years ago; yet
90 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
to-day there are only 120,000 Japanese there as com-
pared with 3,000,000 natives. A similar situation exists
in Korea.
But, while developing her scheme of the hegemony of
Asia, Japan does not forget the other two principles of
her policy. Commercial supremacy in the Pacific is
practically already hers; and she means to keep it.
And this leads directly to the third principle—that of
colonizing in the Western hemisphere; for trade requires
agents and immigrants in the various countries; and the
steamship agents of Japan are no different from those of
other countries, and would like to build up a large
emigrant business. The campaign for the right of free
immigration, apart from asking for it at the peace
conference, which will be referred to later, takes two
forms. First, colonizing in Central and South America
wherever opportimity offers, with the idea of later
exerting pressure upon North America. The relations
between Japan and Mexico are close, and not entirely a
dream in the brain of a futile Zimmerman. A case
might arise in one of these southern countries where weshould either have to assert the Monroe doctrine or
abandon it. If we abandon it, the logic of uniformity
would be invoked to change our policy as to oriental
immigration to the United States.
The second form of propaganda consists in a direct
agitation in this cotmtry to place Japanese immigration
upon the same footing as that from other countries;
and particularly to secure the right of naturalization.
This agitation has been skilfully and vigorously directed.
Able publicists, both Japanese and American, are en-
gaged in the work. Churches maintaining missionaries
in the East have been pressed into service, and they in
turn have enlisted large numbers of philanthropists
and social workers in the cause. The arguments em-
IMMIGRATION—PRESENT AND FUTURE 91
ployed are well set forth in a recent article by Mr. K. K.
Kawakami, in the Yale Review. Some of the agitators,
and many publications in Japan, even hint at the use
of force if necessary ; and it is known that the Philippine
authorities organized for possible trouble in the early
spring of 1914. A bill has been prepared, representing
the views of the committee on oriental relations of the
Federal Cotmcil of Churches in Christ, designed to put
all immigration upon a percentage basis, and to abolish
the special treatment of orientals. Organized labor is,
however, tmalterably opposed to permitting the eco-
nomic competition of oriental labor; and the statesmen
of the Pacific Slope are equally opposed to admitting
Japanese, Chinese and Hindus on social and other
grounds. Under certain conditions in Asia, no trouble is
likely to arise : with other conditions there may yet be a
war between the white and the yellow races. Mean-while Japan, according to Mr. Uyehara, a member of
the Parliamentary Commission which visited the United
States two years ago, intended to ask at the Peace Con-
ference for the right of free immigration to Australia,
India, Canada and this country. Furthermore, she
would like to have asked for the independence of the
Philippines, and the neutralization of Hawaii. These
last demands probably would have been makeweights,
but were in line with the principle of Japanese hegemony
of the Pacific.
Over and above these special perplexing questions
remains the perpetual problem of a sound immigration
policy. There are those who take account of racial
differences, and who believe that the legislators of the
present are trustees of the inheritance of our past for the
benefit of future generations of citizens ; and who do not
wish to see extensive race substitutions in this country.
On the other side, those who value present wealth
92 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
created by cheap labor join hands with certain philan-
thropists who believe that all men are brothers and
equally entitled to any part of the earth's surface.
It is often falsely said that this country was founded
to be a refuge for men of all lands ;yet even in the days
of sparse settlement Washington, Adams, Jefferson and
many others were strong in their demand for immigra-
tion restriction, and since 1882 it must be considered to
have been the fixed policy of the nation. Under the
present law, passed in 191 7, thirty classes of persons are
prohibited from landing, constituting from two to eight
per cent of those applying for admission. It is, however,
characteristic of this country that there has to be muchmore law on any subject than one expects to get en-
forced; and the lengthy enumeration of debarred classes
does not prevent the entrance of most of the physically
and some of the mentally defective, or of many whoquickly become public charges in our hospitals, prisons
and charitable institutions. Nor does the requirement
that an immigrant must be able to read in some lan-
guage, valuable as it is, prevent the entrance of those
who remain aliens in mental outlook and traits of
character.
The facts that immigration practically ceased when
the war began, and that, in spite of the millions taken
for warlike occupations, business went on with as little
disturbance as it did, conclusively prove that the neces-
sity of a million immigrants a year to keep our industries
going is a myth. Undoubtedly, there is always a de-
mand on the part of employers for labor willing to work
at less than the current wage. But, if wages are to be
kept down, how is the average citizen to progress in
comfort and refinement, or indeed in consuming power?
It must not be forgotten that every wave of inferior
immigration to some extent sterilizes every stratum of
IMMIGRATION—PRESENT AND FUTURE 93
our population above it; so that the question is not of
adding new racial elements, but of substituting the newfor the old. Indeed, many eminent economists agree
that our population would be larger to-day than it is, if
we had received no immigration since 1820; and, whatis more important, that it would be more homogeneousin ideals and national spirit. For there is no shibboleth
that can in a twinkling change a man's heredity.
Neither naturalization, nor the expensive but very
superficial "Americanization" campaign now going on,
nor the public schools, can effect any fundamental
change in a short time. This is well shown by the
recent testimony of Capt. Trevor, formerly of the U. S.
Military Intelligence Department, before the Senate
Committee on Immigration. He pointed out that in
every case centers of revolutionary and communistic
agitation are found in the colonies of recent immigration.
Everyone knows that many of those prominent in the
Russian revolution had lived for a considerable time in
New York. A nimiber of agitators personally known to
me are well educated, speak English fluently, and are
entirely familiar with the Constitution and history of
the United States. In this connection, I may say that
the argument against the reading test, because it does
not exclude persons of this sort, is quite illogical. It
was never intended for this purpose. The reading test
does exclude much of the ignorant material upon which
agitators can best work, as well as many of the mentally
and physically defective who might not be excluded
under the express provisions dealing with such classes.
But for dealing with the revolutionist other provision
must be made.
I do not object to the "Americanization" movement
in itself, although it is expensive. I doubt if it will be
very successful in the case of aliens whose habits, ideals
94 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
and historical background are different from ours. But
I maintain that no plan of Americanization can or will
succeed if a million new aliens come in every year; and
I do object to its being used, as it frequently is, to draw
attention away from the need of immigration restriction.
Still another favorite red herring of the anti-restric-
tionists is the matter of distributing immigrants. Theysay that the trouble is not that there are too manyimmigrants, but that they do not go to the right places.
We have had a Division of Distribution in the Immigra-
tion Bureau for a number of years. It has spent a good
deal of money and has accomplished very little. Thealien wants to go where his friends are, and to the big
centers where construction jobs are easier to get. It
has been suggested that an alien should not be allowed
to come in unless he agrees to go to a certain place.
Well and good, but how are you going to keep him there ?
The city of Charleston some years ago imported a picked
shipload of immigrants; within a few months not one
could be found within the State. Of the Mexican
laborers recently imported, under what is practically a
peonage system, to do agricultural work for a certain
time and then be returned to their homes, already over
twenty per cent have disappeared, according to the
Report of the Commissioner General of Immigration, so
that they cannot be deported according to contract. It
would require a Russian police system to enforce anypermanent distribution of aliens. There is also somequestion as to the legality of favoring particular locali-
ties and trades in the matter.
Another suggestion often made is that matters wouldbe much improved if inspection were made at the ports
of emigration instead of at our ports. Assuming that
inspection were equally efficient on each side of the
water, the gain would be entirely that of the aliens and
IMMIGRATION—PRESENT AND FUTURE 95
steamships. But the proposition assumes that the
whole theory of our immigration laws since 1882 has
been wrong. This theory is that the steamships, to
avoid carrying inadmissible aliens back and the fines
imposed for bringing them, will cause inspection to be
made at the place where the ticket is sold. Counting in
local agents, priests, teachers and returned immigrants,
there are probably not less than 50,000 ticket agents
in Europe. These men know the native dialects andoften know the intending immigrants personally; and
they execute our laws without expense to us. Further,
the steamships have their own doctors to make a medi-
cal examination at the ports of embarkation, again
without expense to us. Now it is obvious that an Ameri-
can inspector at Danzig knows no more about an immi-
grant from the interior of Poland than if he were in
New York. We must therefore have inspectors in
interior places. But where are we to get 50,000 or even
20,000 men who know the native dialects and are com-
petent to inspect, at any wages we are likely to pay?
And if inspection is often defective at our ports where
we can watch it, what assurance have we that it will be
any better thousands of miles away with almost no
oversight? Many natives will certainly be employed
as assistants, and our recent experiences with medical
inspection in Italy show that these cannot always be
depended on. But the conclusive argument against
inspection abroad is that foreign governments have
always refused to allow it. It amounts to a species of
extra territorial sovereignty engaged in taking their
good citizens and leaving the defectives, delinquents
and agitators. Why should the foreign governments
favor it? If they do not, political and trade considera-
tions will probably always prevent our attempting to
force them to sanction it,
96 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
In view of the foregoing, those who feel that we need
some elbow room to work out our problems with regard
to the aliens already here, are convinced that we should
cut down substantially the annual total of immigration;
and, further, that this cutting down should be done in
such a way as to favor the races kindred to those which
originally built up the country. Before the Civil Warthe population was almost entirely Nordic, and our
political and social institutions were developed along
the lines of the Nordic spirit. To-day, perhaps a little
over one half our population is Nordic, while oiw immi-
gration is almost entirely Alpine, Mediterranean, Semi-
tic and Asiatic. If such immigration is allowed to come
in at the rate of a million a year, the balance of race-
stocks will be changed in a very few years.
The best plan in sight for cutting down the total
number of immigrants and at the same time favoring
the kindred Nordic races is that based on the natural
capacity of the alien for assimilation. Such a capacity
is indicated roughly by his desire to become naturalized,
when this is voluntary, and not the result of what seems
to the writer shortsighted and misguided zeal on the
part of others to induce him to change his allegiance.
A bill now pending in Congress' limits immigration
from any country in any year to from twenty to fifty
per cent of the natives of such country who were natu-
ralized at the date of the last census. The exact per-
centage is to be fixed each year by the Secretary of
Labor, with reference to labor conditions. The bill in
practice would let in all who want to come from WesternEurope, but would cut down the numbers from Eastern
Europe and Western Asia. In 1914, under the maxi-
mum limitation, the effect of such a bill would havebeen as follows:
• H. R. 10837, 66th Congress.
IMMIGRATION—PRESENT AND FUTURE 97
Actually Admissibleadmitted under bill
Northern and Western Europe 189,177 1,090,500
Southern and Eastern Europe 945,288 279,288
If the United States is to continue to stand for that
which it has always represented, not only within its
borders, but to the world at large ; if it is to be protected
from that preponderance of those who are foreigners,
not only in name but in character, which as Le Bon says
destroys a nation's soul, some such legislation shovild be
speedily enacted.
'
' Since this article was written, the Dillingham bill passed the 66th
Congress by very large votes, and was pocket-vetoed by President
Wilson. This limited immigration annually from any country to three
per cent (with some exceptions) of the natives of such countries whowere residents here according to the census of 1910. The three per cent
in the Dillingham bill is nearly equal to seventeen per cent under the
bill referred to above, as regards Southern and Eastern Europeans; but,
the bill based upon the naturalized would allow proportionally more
Northern and Western Europeans to come in, and therefore, in the
opinion of the writer, is a better bill. But either measure would be a
long step in the right direction. The Dillingham bill will be introduced
into the new Congress, and is likely to be speedily enacted.
7
BIRTH CONTROL AND WORLD EUGENICS'
I HAVE elsewhere called attention to the possible use
of immigration restriction as a means of race segrega-
tion and world eugenics. But immigration to any
country is only one half of the problem; the other half
is the migration coming from "heaven," that is through
births.
The two methods of addition to the population have
precisely similar advantages and dangers. With immi-
gration, a selection can be made not only of the better
individuals of any race, but of those of the better races.
If immigration is not selected, not only personally unfit
individuals mlay come, but less desirable races, which
tend to supplant the better ones. In precisely the same
way, with births left to chance, as is largely the case at
present, many defective individuals may be bom, and
an unduly large number of normal individuals may be
bom from less desirable stock. To make the parallel
complete, we have in each case the strongest forces at
work to increase numbers: in the case of immigration,
the desire for material advantage and the cupidity of
the transportation companies; and, in the case of births,
the sex instinct.
There are certain other respects in which immigration
and births resemble each other. It is more difficult to
induce prosperous, successful and efficient persons in
any coimtry to migrate to another, just as the same
" Unpublished.
98
BIRTH CONTROL AND WORLD EUGENICS 99
class within any country is more prudent and less
prolific. On the other hand, the ignorant, the poor, the
incompetent, those having no great stake in their ownland, are easily induced to move elsewhere; and such a
class in any country is not only ignorant of the means of
regulating births, but only too ready to relieve the
dreary round of a narrow life by means of the most
exciting passion known to man.
It is a general principle of biology that the lower and
less valuable the organism, the more prolific. In all
parts of the world, the lower classes of men breed more
rapidly than the higher ; and, but for sanitary and other
causes, would presently swamp the better elements in
the community. With the increase of public hygiene
these checks tend to operate less radically, so that whenpopulation reaches a certain pressure there is a strong
movement to migrate, such as we see to-day in Italy and
Japan. Thus the birthrate may be a cause of migration,
and immigration may have a profound effect upon the
birth rate.
For example in 1900 the birth rate in certain places
in this country was 2.7 for whites of native parentage,
and 4.4 for whites of foreign parentage. It was 6.2 for
Poles, 5.6 for Russians, as compared with 4.2 for Swedes,
3.5 for EngUsh Canadians, and 3.4 for English. The
largest birth rates were: first generation of Poles, 6.2;
first generation of French Canadians, 5.8. These rates
are more than double that of the native stock; and it is
obvious that, granted fairly hygienic surroundings, the
continuance of such rates would result in swamping the
native element in the areas tabulated. As a matter of
fact, there is some diminution of the birthrate among
immigrants in the second and third generations, owing
to the increase in the standard of living and the learning
of contraceptive methods from natives. Thus the birth
100 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
rate of the second generation of whites of foreign parent-
age was 3.9 as compared with 4.7 for the original immi-
grants; but this rate was still more than one and one
half times the rate of the native whites, and has prob-
ably been offset by a stiU further fall in the native rate.
It is apparent that it will in any case require a con-
siderable time for an immigrant population to reach a
state where the same checks on fecundity will operate
which have operated on the natives; and this will, in
general, not occur unless successive migrations of in-
ferior strata arrive to exert the same steriUzing effect
upon the first comers which they in turn exerted upon
the natives.
Logically "birth control" of the less desirable and
"birth release" of the more desirable should go hand in
hand. But, although from time to time temporary
fashions in favor of large families among the upper
classes may here and there prevail, and although per-
sons like Roosevelt may preach large families, neverthe-
less that social and economic pressure which demands'
' concentration of advantages'
' through smaller families,
is too powerful to make birth release possible to anyuseful extent.
If, then, there is to be any movement to put the
breeding of the more desirable and of the less desirable
in any country on a proximate equality, it must be one
involving the teaching of birth control methods to the
lower classes ; for the upper classes already know them.
Formerly, nature favored such equality through disease,
poor food and lack of sanitation operating amongstthe more prolific. To-day it is different; and indeed it
was one of Darwin's last reflections that sxirvival wasbeing made so easy that natural selection would beseriously interfered with. I knew an Irish emigrant of
1850 who had fourteen children, of whom only three
BIRTH CONTROL AND WORLD EUGENICS loi
survivedhim. To-day, hemight have only ten, but mostof them would grow to maturity.
It is an unfortunate thing that the United States is
about the only country in the world where information
as to how to prevent too frequent conceptions cannot
be freely given. There is a federal postal law against
sending it through the mails. In the statutes of manyStates prevention of conception is classed with abortion.
Most of these statutes were passed many years ago
before the hygienic advantage of the proper spacing of
children had received any attention. In New England,
where legislation was largely founded on the Penta-
teuch, and discussion of sexual matters was considered
obscene ; and contraceptive literature was coupled in the
laws with abortion and blasphemy. Even as recently
as 1917, a young man was convicted in Massachusetts
for giving away a pamphlet containing contracep-
tive information, under a statute regarding obscene
publications.
In England, France, Germany, in fact throughout
Europe such information can be freely distributed. In
HoUand, Australia and New Zealand there are birth
control clinics sanctioned by the government where
poor women can be taught how to limit their famiUes.
The results in Holland, where there are fifty-two such
clinics, have been very interesting. The charity cases
have been cut in half; the stature of the army has risen
in a very marked manner ; and the net addition to popu-
lation has risen also, because, although the birth rate
has fallen, the death rate has fallen still more. In other
words, every child has a better show.
I want to speak particularly of the effect in Holland
upon the army enlistments, because it has a direct bear-
ing upon my main thesis. According to the Official
Statistical Yearbook of the Netherlands, the proportion of
102 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
enlistments over five feet seven inches in height has
increased from 24.5 to 47.5 per cent since 1865; and
the proportion of those below five feet, two and one half
inches has fallen from 25.0 to 8.0 per cent. Now this
increase in height is not due solely to improved living
conditions, but chiefly to the fact that the birth control
clinics operate among the Alpine and Mediterranean
elements of the population, which are smaller in stature
than the Nordic. The result of checking the birth rate
of the former has been to give the latter a better oppor-
tunity; and the Nordic element, relieved from the
economic pressiire of the others, has increased its birth
rate, and furnishes a larger proportion of the recruits
than formerly.
To illustrate in our own cotintry. If the so-called
"old immigration," which came here before 1880, to-
gether with the native stock could be put on an equality
as to birth rate with the "new immigration" coming
since 1880, the Nordic element here would have at
least an even chance; whereas, as things are, it will have
a difficult time to hold its own.
There is not only the direct competition of the num-bers of the lower classes and lower races ; but there is the
indirect burden upon the more fit of carrying the less
fit. Schools, hospitals, charitable enterprises of all
kinds, the attempt in countless ways to raise the aver-
age by raising the backward, prevent those advanceswhich might otherwise take place. I remember six-
teen pages, in the report of a New York charity, of
entries of visits, relief and various kinds of action
taken in the case of one feeble-minded woman withfourteen children.
Now one of the chief causes of defective children
is their too frequent arrival, which not only brings
physiological poverty to both mother and child, but in-
BIRTH CONTROL AND WORLD EUGENICS 103
creases economic want. In 191 1, in Johnstown, Pa., afield study showed deaths per 1000 births as follows
:
Families 1-2 children 108.5
3-4 " 126.0" 5-6 " IS2.8" 7-8 " 176.4" 9 or more i9i-7
The same thing was found in Chicago.
Families of 4 children and less 118" "6 " 267" "7 " 280
"8 " 291" "9 and over 303
Dr. S. Adolphus Knopf, a high authority upon tuber-
culosis, reports that the tuberculous cases are almost
always, in cases of large families, among the children
later than the fourth.
The international conventions of workingmen havefrequently demanded, not only free rights of migration,
but a wage based upon the cost of adequately support-
ing a family of five or six children. If this latter demandwere to be sustained, the burden put upon the moresuccessful portion of the community, which does not
undertake to have six children, would be still larger.
Already, according to Professor Karl Pearson, more
than one half of the births in England come from the
lowest one sixth of the population.
But, whatever may happen in the West, the real
population problem of this century lies in the Orient.
It is a hopeful sign that a Japanese commission in this
coimtry recently investigated methods of birth control,
with a view to teaching them widely in Japan. On the
other hand, the low condition of the bulk of the popula-
tion in Japan, China and India, as well as the prevalence
104 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
of certain religious beliefs, makes it very imlikely that
birth control will make much progress in those coun-
tries. If it could be brought about, much of the famine,
abortion, infanticide and prostitution would disappear,
as well as a part of the dangers of war, one of the maininducements to which is the pressure of population.
Kipling, in one of his recent stories, looks forward to
the time when the total population of the world will be
about one half of what it is at present, and, with the
help of new inventions and machinery, will be far morehealthy and prosperous.
Birth control, then, like immigration restriction,
should be applied: (i) to the defective and delinquent
stocks of all races; and (2) to the less desirable races.
Why should human reason be applied to the breeding of
animals and plants, to almost everjrthing in fact, except
the breeding of man? The first thing to do is to makesound knowledge available; the second to secure its
application. Proper discussion of sexual matters should
no longer be considered obscene; parenthood should bevoluntary and rational, and not a matter of chance.
REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION'
The late Samuel Butler had a favorite diversion
—
that of turning a familiar proverb or maxim upside
down, to see what truth cotild be found in its opposite.
Generally, he found a good deal of truth; and the
method is one that need not be limited to followers of
Hegel. For we all get into the habit of taking old say-
ings at their face value without much examination;
indeed, education, to say nothing of propaganda and
advertising, depends for its success upon the repetition
and reiteration, in very nearly the same form, of some-
thing which it is desired to impress upon the infant or
the uncritical mind. Napoleon went so far as to say
that repetition was the only serious figure in logic.
Further, we all have habitual preferences for certain
ways of thought. Like a fly crawling over the tableau
of history, each of us seems to prefer some especial color
to walk on. This may be due to instinctive protective
mimicry. The chorus in Faust tells us to avoid what
does not agree with us, what stirs our insides tmpleas-
antly. So one fly likes to crawl on the high lights and
adopts the great man theory of history; another likes
the dull, massed colors, and attributes everj^hing to the
vast, vague undercurrents of popular instinct; one
chooses the rosy and saffron tints of the romantic
theory; another the single muddy tone which Marxcalled the economic interpretation. Few of us can get
• Unpublished.
105
io6 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
far enough away from the surface of the picture to see
the dramatic meaning of the whole; and, when we do,
our eyes are apt to focus badly.
It is, then, a good thing once in a while to take some
time-honored saying, and to turn it upside down or
inside out, and to note the result. Wehave good author-ity, besides that of Butler, for doing so; because, if a
maxim is time-honored, it means that the majority has
endorsed it, and Herbert Spencer has reminded us that
majorities are always wrong, though never wholly
wrong.
In the early days of this nation, it was accepted
without question that taxation without representation
is tyranny. Indeed that maxim may be said to have
caused the separation of the colonies from Britain; I
want to reverse this saying, and to consider if it be not
equally true that representation without taxation is
tyranny. Charles Reade once reduced all arguments to
three : tu quoque, tu mentiris, and vos damnemini—you're
another, you lie, to hell with you. A combination of
these three arguments, much in fashion at the present
time, is to say "you're a reactionary." This is used
whether the poor mortal to be squelched wants to return
to the city-state of Pericles, or merely to have things
left as they were yesterday. Whoever is not movingrapidly in some direction, even though it be as Sumneronce said of Garrison, toward the edge of a precipice, is
a reactionary.
Let us not, however, be afraid of this word. Men,like children, tire of any game after a period. Nietzsche
may not be right in thinking that anything that hasbeen wiU happen again an infinite number of times;
and yet nothing is more certain than that aristocratic
forms -will return after some hundreds of years, and that
the wisdom of to-day will seem folly to those who come
REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION 107
after us, even though meanwhile the phrase "kingdomof heaven" shall be expunged from the prayer book as
too monarchical.
Now the essence of the phrase "taxation without
representation is tyranny" is democracy—the right of
aU to have a share in the government. It means this
because its original application to a colony has been
transferred to the individual man ; and a little premiss
has been surreptitiously smuggled in to the effect that
every one is taxed. The converse proposition, that
"representation without taxation is tyranny" stands
essentially for aristocracy, for the idea that only those
measuring up to a certain standard should have a lead-
ing part in the government. It is truly remarkable
what a magic formula the word "democracy" has
become in modern times. It is almost the "one God,
one law, one element, and one divine far off divine
event." If anything is wrong an5rwhere, all that is
needed is democracy, and after that more democracy.
Here and there a Lecky or a Henry Adams may decline
to put flowers on its altar; but he has R (for reaction-
ary) pinned upon him as surely as A was used in the
times of the Scarlet Letter. Professor H. M. Varrall has
called my attention to a curious parallel in the Middle
Ages. Then the system was monasticism; and when-
ever anything seemed to be the matter with it, the
remedy proposed was more monasticism.
It seems that Americans, more than other Nordic
peoples (if indeed we are still a Nordic people) like to be
fooled by the sound of words. They were long hyp-
notized by that falsest of shibboleths "the melting-
pot" ; they are now entranced by any orator who shouts'
'humanity " or "democracy.'
' For, though democracy
be, in the words of Plato, the best form of bad govern-
ment, we have never had it in the United States, and do
io8 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
not have it now. As I have shown elsewhere' the
democratic phrases in our Constitution and Declaration
of Independence came from France ; and in France they
were the result of trying to apply at a stroke to the
whole population certain principles of equality which
had worked well among the selected membership of
those Masonic lodges which had a good deal to do with
the French Revolution. But it was characteristic of
the relatively intelligent and almost wholly Nordic
population of our colonies that, although it played with
these phrases, and made much of them as compared
with the feudalism of Britain, yet in practice it was as
aristocratic as any country could be. For the people
were intelligent enough to pick out the most able amongthem, and to entrust to them the management of affairs
;
so that for the first sixty years of our existence as a
separate nation, the government, although democratic
in form, was aristocratic in fact. Who can imagine, for
a moment, that men like Washington, Hamilton, andespecially John Marshall, could have welded the colo-
nies into one people, if at every step they had been
obliged to consult the electorate through such machin-
ery as the referendum and recall? Even the original
concept of'
' representation'
' was essentially aristocratic.
The people were to elect, directly or indirectly, the
man they considered fittest for senator or congressman,
and he was to act as he thought best for the country.
The members of the electoral college were to exercise
their best judgment in picking a president.
To-day, how different the theory! Presidents, sena-
tors and members of congress are tied hand and foot
before election by all sorts of pledges. After election,
in doubtful cases, congressmen now take postal cardcanvasses of their districts. Presidential electors have a
' Journal of Heredity, x, 166 (April, 1919).
REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION 109
very limited choice of action, where they have any at
all. Even the judiciary, hitherto more or less independ-
ent, is to be made "responsible to the people," and its
decisions subject to the whim of the mob. Governmentby counting noses would be bad enough, bearing in
mind that majorities are always wrong, except perhaps
where a simple moral issue is presented. But we do not
have even this; for "the people" are in turn led about
by the few, only by demagogues instead of aristocrats.
By aristocrats I mean men of pre-eminent intelligence,
ability and devotion to the public good. True democ-racy is possible, as Lecky and Mallock have shown,
only in a relatively homogeneous and intelligent com-munity; in other words, where every one has a brain as
well as a nose. But the lower type of man is governed
by emotion rather than by reason, by the feeling of the
moment unmodified by the experience of the past. It
is to feeling that the demagogue appeals. He knowshow to work on passing waves of popular emotion to
get himself into office and to stay there. One secret of
the spread of socialism is this appeal to the present, and
a total disregard of both the past and the future.
The less intelligent the community, the less aristo-
crats have a share of power greater than their numerical
proportion. That is why we are rapidly getting to the
point where strong and able men can no longer be
elected to public office, except in an occasional emer-
gency. Emile Faguet in his Culte d'Incompetence has
shown this condition in France. It is the same here.
How has this come about? One of the most funda-
mental distinctions between men is that between those
who are interested in the whole of anything, and those
who are interested in a part of it; or, in other words,
between those who place the emphasis upon quantity
and those who are appealed to by quality. In recent
no IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
years, there has been a great increase in men of the
former type, what I call for lack of a better term the
"expansile" type, who are the victims of any idea more
simple and quantitatively more inclusive than some
other. This type is too lazy to bother with distinctions,
boundaries and classifications; it finds it easier to de-
mand simplicity and equality in everything. Equal
wages, equal suffrage, equal education, equal oppor-
tunity are its mantrams. The very language is modified
in accordance with this psychological point of view.
We hear no longer of "men," but of "man" and"humanity." We forget that, as Allen Upward has
pointed out,' "humanity" is a false word, because it
means that there are or ought to be no distinctions
between men; and that the "religion of humanity" is
not the worship of the best man or of the best in man,but of the average man. In politics, we have reached
the condition deplored by Montesquieu:" "where each
one wishes to be equal to those whom he has chosen to
command him. Under these circumstances, the people
impatient of the power itself in which it has confided,
wishes to do everything itself, deliberate for the Senate,
execute for the magistrates, and rob all the judges of
their power."
The masses, as Amiel has said, are necessarily belowthe average; but democracy rests upon the legal fiction
that the majority has not only power but intelligence,
that it possesses wisdom as well as legal rights. ^ Thisfiction is contrary to the dictum of Nietzsche that thehighest judgments can come only from those having thefullest energy of hfe. To-day the most potent judgmentsare those of the masses. Machiavelli's Prince has
' The New Word, 98, 100.
' Esprit des Lois, Bk. viii, c. 2.
3 Journal, ii, 1 19.
REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION iii
become the common people; and the opinions of the
latter are formed liot by trained reason, but by hearsay
and contagion, by emotional factors, by image-produc-
ing ideas given them by the popular leaders.
Price Collier' puts the matter concretely thus:
"England's greatness is due in no small degree to the
fact that she has stubbornly held to the belief, despite
republics and revolutions, that all men are not equal,
nor all entitled to an equal degree of liberty. . . . Theold wholesome theory that the inferior should be urged
to play up, and be rewarded if he did, made us Ameri-
cans and English what we are; the modern theory, born
of the miasma of the French Revolution, urging the
superior to play down, will emasculate us inevitably."
To the same effect Goncourt:^ "Le suffrage universel!
Apr^s de si longs sifecles, une si lente 6ducation de I'hu-
manit§ sauvage, revenir k la barbaric du nombre, k la
victoire de Timbecillit^ des multitudes aveugles."
Immigration has played its part in the changed point
of view in this country. The Mediterranean races,
unlike the Nordic, look to the State for progress instead
of to individual enterprise. The Semitic consciousness,
as expressed in men like St. Paul, Spinoza, Marx and
Bergson, is the champion of abstract universals as
contrasted with Nordic concreteness. A nation of
many races has no longer one soul, one spirit. Its
integrity can be destroyed not only through heredity bycross-breeding, but in a slower way by a change in the
environment through the mere presence of alien ele-
ments. Gobineau long ago pointed out that the doctrine
that all men are equal is announced only by mixed
races ; and even the sense in which words like "equality"
are used changes insensibly with the people who use
' The West in the East, 139, 184.
' Journal, iii, 301.
112 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
them. Equality is now political atomism divorced
from any idealism, from any formal or artistic structure.
Democracy tends to the levelling of all differences ex-
cept that of number; it ignores the advantage of divi-
sions of function in the body politic; and it "increas-
ingly demands that the slavish mind shall be treated
politely. " ' We should laugh at a legislator who should
undertake to tell a miner or a lumberman how to do his
work; but no one laughs at the idea that the miner or
the lumberman is competent to vote on even the most
abstruse political problems. And the result of this is
that fatal tendency, noted by John Morley, for the
public to attempt to give simple answers to complex
problems.
Instead of that unfortunate phrase of Theodore
Parker's, copied by Lincoln, "government of the people,
by the people and for the people," we ought to say
"government for the people; but not alone by the
people, but chiefly by those leaders best qualified."^
Otherwise, we shall lose all the benefits of special ability
and special training. This is, indeed, recognized bysome even among the radicals. For example, Labriola,
the Italian revolutionist and preacher of syndicalism
says: "True democracy is the concentrating of power
in an elite who can best judge of social cause and effect."
He likes to keep the word "democracy" for oratorical
effect ; but what he is in truth preaching is the value of
aristocracy. And what he says must be true; because
the masses are ignorant of social cause and effect in the
past, and care more about the present than the future.
As Emerson put it :' "In democracy the persons wield-
ing power are always changing. Hence the permanent
' Morrison I. Swift, Can Mankind Survive, 38.
' W. H. Mallock, The Limits of Pure Democracy, 57.
3 Journal, 1850, 140.
REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION 113
things in front of their minds are not the state, or its
good, or any policies, but first their own interest, andsecond their party, for these are the only permanencythey know." This was so well recognized at the be-
ginning of the French Revolution, that its leaders hadno thought of granting universal suffrage. All menwere to be protected in their persons, their property
and their liberty; but all were not to be "active citi-
zens.''
' They believed, with Burke, that the tyranny of
a democracy is the most dangerous of all tyrannies,
because it allows no appeal from itself.
And we are now tending toward a tyranny of the few,
acting by oratory, by the press, by the very form in
which news is given out, upon the ignorant many. Noextensions of suffrage, of referenda, of appeal to mere
numbers, can improve this condition.
What, then, is the remedy ? I say it frankly, to react.
If we have gone too far one way, let us go some distance
the other way. The alternative is all kinds of wild,
popular experiments—^all of them by the way tried
long ago—^followed by the despotism of some individual
strong enough to control all others. The true remedyis to give more power to the brains and less to the noses
;
in other words, to limit political power to those having a
certain stake in the community. In the phrase of mytext, "No representation without taxation."
We need not make economic success the sole criterion
of suffrage, although it is probably the surest one. Wecould limit the suffrage to the following classes of
persons : (a) those paying a certain amount of federal
or local tax; (b) those having a certain education; (c)
those having a business of their own of a certain size;
(d) those willing to pay a considerable fee for the privi-
lege. It is not even necessary to disfranchise anybody.
' Si^yfes to the Committee on the Constitution, July 20, 1789.
8
114 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
If we wish to stick to the principle of every person
having one vote, we could give an additional vote for
each of the classes mentioned above in which any voter
found himself. It is true that any proposition to limit
the suffrage does not look very promising when weconsider the expansile tendency of the age; and yet it
has been done at least three times already in this coun-
try. In colonial Massachusetts, the ballot was re-
stricted to those who were both church members andproperty owners; in New Jersey, woman suffrage wasabolished early in the last century; and, in RhodeIsland, the property qualification was recently raised
from seventy-five to three hundred dollars.
It will be objected at once that most, if not all, of the
bosses and demagogues could qualify as voters tmderthe above scheme. That is perfectly true. There is noUtopian method of separating out Cicero's "goodmen" in the community, and turning the governmentover to them. But the power of the boss is gone as soonas he no longer has the ignorant voter as his support.
In an emergency, by common consent, aristocrats
are put in office and given supreme power. Caesar longago remarked that the Gallic tribes were democraciesin peace but oligarchies in war. The same is alwaystrue; and the World War was perhaps the best exampleof the necessity of putting able men in power when athing has to be done well and quickly. No doubt manymistakes were made; no doubt many things might havebeen done better. But, in every country taking part in
the great struggle, there was the phenomenon of thecompetent few taking the place, for the time being, ofthe incompetent multitude. The problem is to soarrange the political system that what is done in a greatemergency shall be done more or less all the time. Thefirst step is to realize that superficial equality is essen-
REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION 115
tially inequality; that the parable of the talents still
holds true ; and that to him that hath much in the wayof intelligence, ability and public spirit should muchbe given in the way of power, and of him should muchbe demanded in the way of service.
THE PERSONAL SIDE
THE PERSONAL SIDE
" When spirit calls to spirit, there will be
Dominion, wider than eternity;
Then forget me or remember, as you will,
I'll not forget to bless you ever; still
You will forget-me-not."
From the time Prescott Famsworth Hall was born,
his mother, Mrs. Samuel Hall, Jr., who was then forty-
five years of age, was an invalid. As a restilt, he grew
up under restrained and unusual circumstances. Mrs.
Hall's only other child, William Famsworth Kilboume,
had died at the age of two and one half years. This
made her all the more insistent concerning the health
and care of the new baby. Consequently he grew up a
frail little hothouse plant, for he was never allowed to
romp, to climb and to be reckless, as other boys were.
Mr. Hall's entire life was a courageous battle against
ill-health. Once during the World War he was express-
ing regret that he could not take part in the great
struggle, and I said to him: "You have been given the
hardest battle in life to fight. It were easier to meet a
foe openly, than one which we cannot see or imder-
stand."
One of his nurses once said to me: "I think he has
more courage than any one I have ever seen."
All his life he had insomnia. In normal times it was
his custom to go to bed about twelve or one o'clock; and
if he couldn't sleep, which was often, he would return
to the library, to his books or his writing. If he could
119
120 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
sleep solidly from four o'clock till eight in the morning
it was suflScient sleep for him. But he was so highly-
sensitive that it was hard for him to sleep after the early
morning noises began.
Mr. Hall was devoted to his home; and he was a great
lover of nature. No one ever loved flowers, shrubs and
trees more intimately than he. And he knew all the
little flies and bugs that inhabited them. Of these he
had a large collection,—one of the interests of his youth.
He taught me to feel friendly towards little insects
which had hitherto been repulsive to me. He knew all
their names and some of their missions in the great
scheme of life. It was his custom, as soon as the buds
commenced to appear in the spring, until the frosts of
winter obscured all foliage, to walk around the grounds
after breakfast before going to his office. So manytimes I've watched him as he slowly walked about,
sometimes stopping—with arms folded—communing,
apparently, with his silent friends.
Late one afternoon when the world seemed so at
peace, and a most brilliant afterglow shed radiance all
about us, we were walking in the garden when we cameupon a robin tugging away in an effort to get a helpless
worm from the earth. Mr. Hall looked on sadly for a
moment and said: "If we could only know why that
should be, one of the biggest problems of the Universe
would be solved." He often said with Tyndall, "if wecould only be sure that the Universe is friendly." Henever could bear to see anything suffer. A cat with a
mouse distressed him unbearably. A suffering animal,
or anything that hadn't the faculty of reasoning or
understanding engaged his attention and his sympathies
always. Where there was a question of human beings
or animals suffering, his sympathies were always with
the animals, because they were more helpless.
THE PERSONAL SIDE 121
Notwithstanding Mr. Hall's profound mind and his
habits of philosophical reasoning, he had a simple, aloving and a lovable nature. This side of his character
is the one I am intentionally setting forth.
The thing that he had least patience with was the
more holy than thou '
' attitude. He hated moral prigs
with a cordial hatred. He could forgive any other formof crime, but not that. And no one ever hated all
forms of gossip and uncharitable criticism more thanhe did.
His sympathies were always with the down-trodden.
This, I think, sometimes lead to misunderstanding
him.
He felt that every intelligent man possessed a God-given right to live life according to his own interpreta-
tions. "By thine own soul's law learn to live."
He could not endure "tailor-made religions." But a
spiritual life appealed greatly to him—the spiritual life
that practises, but does not preach.
Mr. HaU thought the pursuit of happiness an entirely
erroneous life theory. He agreed with Schopenhauer
that "not pleasure but freedom from pain is what the
wise man will aim at." Freedom from pain that one
might do good work—best serve. And he felt it was the
duty of every intelligent person to have some public
spirited interest, some interest in the common good, the
betterment of the future generations.
I once asked him what he considered our most impor-
tant duty to the Universe, and he said: "Self-ex-
pression."
Always he believed in hammering away at one's
ideals, no matter whether they were attained or not.
One were better for the struggle. The following from
The Statue and the Bust was a favorite of his, and suited
him peculiarly well:
122 IMMIGRATION AND OTHER INTERESTS
" Stake your counter as boldly every whit,
Venture as warily, use the same skill.
Do your best, whether winning or losing it.
If you choose to, play!—is my principle.
Let a man contend to the uttermost
For his hfe's set prize, be it what it will."
Mr. Hall was always vigorous in his conversations
and his writings, and no matter whether his views were
shared or not, one always felt his honesty and sincerity
underljdng all words and arguments. He would not
concede a thing he could not honestly believe, no matter
what the consequences. Indeed, his honesty was his
tragedy for he stuck to his beliefs, often defying society
—and willingly paid the price.
He was a man with a prophetic vision, and a great,
grand patience with which he accepted defeat. Never
a politician, but always a statesman. Interested in
every one's subject, taking stock of every one's views.
Mr. Hall was a critic and an inspiration. He was a
man whose mind had no holiday, for he was always
restlessly active. And Goethe says, "Restless activity
proves the man."
He was very fond of the German language and Utera-
ture, also German music. The German thinking mindappealed greatly to him.
In the last entry in his journal, after speaking of his
long, tedious illness, he says: "It comes down to the
question whether all things have value, or some things
or nothing. And there is no answer."
Mr. Hall had a great deal of sentiment, was honest to
a fault and was the most loyal person I have ever known.He requested that locks of his mother's and father's
hair, which he had kept, be buried with him; also cer-
tain things which had belonged to a very splendid youngwoman he had loved and lost in his college days.
THE PERSONAL SIDE 123
After a rather tempestuous life, it is sweet to remem-
ber the cahn, glorified radiance which surrounded him
at last. He seemed perfectly happy—unafraid—and so
at peace with all the world.
Thus, like a tired child, he fell asleep and slipped
away into the silence—the silence into which all lives
must hush at last.
Brookline, Massachusetts.
Summer of 192 1.